Drop, Cover, Hold!
It’s been about 20 years since the USGS ‘leaned into’ implementing an earthquake early warning system on the west coast. Areas where one can see a current benefit from this system include: evacuation from tsunami zones, traffic control on elevated roadway and railways, elevator safety, control of the movement of heavy masses (i.e. overhead cranes, gates on hydroelectric dams), directing people away from potential falling objects (i.e. warehouses), control of hazardous material transfer operations- to name a few.
However, for almost any location ON EARTH near the epicenter of the earthquake – where the shaking is generally MOST DAMAGING – one will NOT LIKELY receive any warning (or at least any useful warning) from ShakeAlertR or any other ‘broadcast’ warning system. If you don’t believe me, Google “USGS blind zone” for more enlightenment. Preparedness and site specific ‘seismically qualified’ earthquake actuated systems remain the best answer in this situation – given the potential for shallow crustal earthquakes or intraslab events from unmapped or otherwise unknown seismic risks. That is, a facility’s normal PLC-based fire alarm or facility monitoring infrastructure is, in most cases, NOT designed or qualified to operate while subject to strong motion; considering issues such as: loss of power, relay chatter, PLC module contact bounce, re-booting, shorted circuits from sensor damage, etc. If this is a subject of interest to your organization, please feel free to contact us <info@eqsafetysys.com> for more info or to schedule a chat.
Also, the list of uses in the opening paragraph is surely incomplete and readers of this post may be interested to be learn of other applications or benefits not listed. We look forward to your input!
