Scientist criticizes ‘silly’ story on Canada’s earthquake system

Saying that Canada is “out front” on earthquake technology is a bit of a stretch, according to a Washington state seismologist.

After reading through this story, which states “Oregon and Washington officials are working hard to do their part as well,” John Vidale writes that, “Actually, the US is years ahead of Canada in earthquake early warning.” He calls the story “silly.”

According to the story in the Oregonian, Canada is “aggressively doing something” about earthquake preparedness through its warning systems. That includes an investment into underwater accelerometers that detect early shaking along the Cascadia fault. The Oregonian reports that Ocean Networks Canada began installing the detection technology on the ocean floor in July.

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The goal of the technology is to alert people in vulnerable areas before major shaking begins, allowing them to find safe cover; it could also give officials a small window of time to shut down vulnerable infrastructure, such as bridge and tunnels — among other advantages.

The idea of having an early-warning system is something especially enticing to those living near the Cascadia subduction zone, which runs for hundreds of miles along the West Coast under the Pacific Ocean. FEMA estimates that more than 10,000 could die and nearly 30,000 could be injured when the Cascadia fault finally releases its energy, generating what could be a magnitude-9.0 quake.

Though Canada is working on potential life-saving technology, it’s not necessarily light years ahead of the rest of the West Coast. Vidale points out that the University of British Columbia has built an inexpensive local warning system that work in some schools, “but, again, that is nowhere near warning the general public or industry.”

Vidale points out that the USGS, University of Oregon, University of Washington, Berkeley, and Caltech have worked to build the ShakeAlert system. That system, according to Vidale, is connected to about 1,000 sensors along the West Coast. Still, after “several tens of millions of dollars” invested, work is still being done to fine-tune the system. It wasn’t that long ago when the system was actually late to detect a magnitude-4.3 quake in the Cascades.

Those working on the warning system in the Pacific Northwest are up to an estimated two years or more away from an early warning app for the public use, according to Vidale.

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