Shakealarm
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ShakeAlarm is an on-site earthquake early warning system (EEWS) developed by Weir-Jones Engineering Consultants[1] in Vancouver, British Columbia. The system functions by detecting and identifying fast moving P-waves that arrive before the slower and damaging S-waves generated from the hypocenter of an earthquake. Once ShakeAlarm has identified a candidate P-wave it will determine in less than 500 milliseconds if the following S-wave will be strong enough to be dangerous. Once the determination has been reached that an inbound S-wave might exceed acceptable levels the system can trigger the structured shutdown of critical processes - gas, electricity and water services - and can also be used for opening of fire bay doors, SMS warnings to the general population and a variety of other services to be activated before the S-wave's (shaking) impact. ShakeAlarm represents a streamlined site specific application of technology and ideas that Japan has been working with for some time on a nationwide deployment level in the form of a network.[2]
ShakeAlarm is deployed throughout British Columbia, Washington State and Oregon State - further locations on the West Coast of North America are being investigated for deployment of the ShakeAlarm system.[3]
Shakealarm has been protecting the George Massey Tunnel, (and its 50,000+ daily users) in Delta, BC against significant seismic activity since 2009.[4]
Development
ShakeAlarm is the most current technology to come from over 30 years of microseismic research and development conducted by Weir-Jones Engineering Consultants. Major contributors to the development of ShakeAlarm include Dr. Anton Zaicenco[5] Dr. Iain Weir-Jones,[6] and Sharlie Huffman[7] formerly of the BC Ministry of Transportation.