Seismic warningsPublic-private partnership proposed to fund Calif. seismic early warning system
California state agencies federal agencies, are proposing a partnership between public and private agencies to build the $23.1 million earthquake early warning system in the state, and fund the $11.4 million annual operating budget. Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 135 in 2013 authorizing construction of the warning system, but the bill does not provide or allocate funding, despite a plan to have the system active in two years. The early warning system will provide Los Angeles residents up to a minute’s notice if a large earthquake is generated on the San Andreas Fault in the Salton Sea area. The system could also provide warnings for earthquakes that occur throughout California’s earthquake-prone landscape.
Representatives from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Institute of Technology (CalTech), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and other state agencies presented a workshop on Monday at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands. The event was one of two statewide meetings, the other held in Vallejo, to discuss the current state of the earthquake early warning system developed by CalTech and USGS. Program leaders are proposing a partnership between public and private agencies to build the $23.1 million system, and to fund the $11.4 million annual operating budget.
Government Technology reports that the early warning system will provide Los Angeles residents up to a minute’s notice if a large earthquake is generated on the San Andreas Fault in the Salton Sea area. The system could also provide warnings for earthquakes that occur throughout California’s earthquake-prone landscape, and as far as Oregon and Washington. OES director Mark Ghilarducci said Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 135 in 2013 authorizing construction of the warning system, but the bill does not provide or allocate funding, despite a plan to have the system active in two years.
Officials are seeking private sector partnerships in planning and financing the delivery of warning information to the public, and also in coordinating response efforts following a major earthquake. Large retailers and hospital associations could help carry out response efforts, program managers could initiate a crowdfunding project; public funds could be tapped through voluntary donations on tax filings or an earthquake license plate; or funds could be allocated from the California Earthquake Authority, the state-run insurance program.
Doug Given of the USGS manages the warning system demonstration project which was put online two years ago and built on active seismic monitoring stations. Given said that 440 additional seismic stations are needed for the proposed comprehensive warning system. Given and CalTech researcher Thomas Heaton have invested a lot of efforts in the project. The availability of the warning system, Heaton said, “is a result of steady development by … an entire community of people who are dedicated to studying earthquakes and figuring out how to protect our society from them.”
“At one point, I wondered if I’d see it in my career,” Heaton said. “Now it looks like it’s going to be a reality.”
