The world's largest earthquake early warning system

China's new earthquake early warning system includes more than 15,000 monitoring stations, providing information to a large number of users within a second.

Sichuan province frequently experiences major earthquakes. Photo: Shanghai Daily — Sichuan province frequently experiences major earthquakes. Photo: *Shanghai Daily*

Construction of the main part of China's new earthquake early warning system has been completed. Min Yiren, director of the China Earthquake Administration (CEA), said the completion and acceptance of the project is expected to take place by the end of this year, CGTN reported on June 8.

China has been building an earthquake early warning system since the 1990s and set up a real-time seismic intensity reporting system in some high-risk areas in 2018. The goal is to notify the public of upcoming earthquakes seconds in advance and report the earthquake's seismic intensity within a minute of an earthquake. According to Min, this is the world's largest earthquake early warning system, reducing the time it takes to collect information from a minute to a few seconds after an earthquake.

According to a 2002 study in the Northwestern Seismological Journal, knowing three seconds in advance of an earthquake could save 14% of lives, 10 seconds in advance could save 39% of lives, and 20 seconds in advance could save 63%. To minimize damage from earthquakes, the system can send warnings through a variety of devices, including TVs, cell phones, radios, and other warning portals.

The system now includes more than 15,000 monitoring stations, three national centers, 31 provincial centers, and 173 county-level reporting centers. Public early warning testing is underway in several earthquake-prone areas, including Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in the southwest, Beijing, Tianjin and Hubei in the north, and Fujian province in the east. Min said the system has overcome several technical problems, such as integrating multiple networks and providing information to a large number of users within one second.

An Khang (According to CGTN )

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