An Earthquake Warning System (EWS) was successfully installed in Uttarakhand, Dehradun in the first week of July 2015. With this, Uttarakhand became first Indian state to install a system that can detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings.
The system was designed and manufactured by Italian firm Space Dynamics which already installed this system in Japan, Italy and US. The system will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before the occurrence of earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more.
According to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Uttarakhand falls under Seismic Zone –V, which is a zone of high seismic activity with magnitude of 6.9 or greater on Richter scale. Apart from it, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rann of Kutch (Gujarat), Northern Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands also fall under this seismic zone.
Another system like this will soon be established at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand.
Highlights of the Earthquake Warning System
• This technology was brought by the state Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre (DMMC) and is operational at the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).
• The system is incorporated with sensors that can detect P (Primary) and S (Secondary) waves generated during an earthquake.
• It is capable to detect the harmless P wave, which travels faster than the S wave for advance warning.
• It generates a variety of alarms like programmable built-in audio alert, connected to external alarms like sirens and public announcement systems.
• It also triggers visual alerts and sends them via cellphones and the internet. The system can also eliminate false triggers from environmental vibrations and filters smaller non-damaging quakes.
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