Yes,California, We Have Operating Earthquake Early Warning Networks! They are in the Coachella Valley!
Harold (Hal) Good, CPPO
Procurement Professional
Yes, California! We do have working earthquake early warning networks. They are in the Coachella Valley.
Operational earthquake warning networks deployed in the Coachella Valley alert firefighters and Sunline Transit Authority personnel before the ground shaking begins. The networks also electronically initiate protective actions, such as opening fire station doors and turning on emergency lighting.
Retired Palm Springs Fire Chief, Blake Goetz is one of the people most responsible for contracting for, and implementing these networks. Goetz served the Palm Springs Fire Department, for 33 years, the last six as the Fire Chief. In early 2001 Palm Springs was one of the first fire departments in the State to subscribe to P-wave triggered early earthquake warning networks and install one in every fire station. Chief Goetz has been at the forefront of earthquake early warning, its importance and benefits for 14 years. He is currently the Project Manager for the Coachella Valley Regional Earthquake Warning System (CREWS), a public-private partnership adopted and being developed by a regional government association, the local emergency managers association and three public school districts.
Currently there are sixteen (16) Earthquake Warning "QuakeGuard" systems installed at various Coachella Valley fire stations and at the Sunline Transit Authority, also in the Coachella Valley. These warning networks provide critical seconds of automated warning. They are not "beta" prototypes. They currently operating. See video link below:
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-428859
During recent quakes, surveys of the early warning networks confirmed that all of them performed exactly as they were designed, and they activated seconds before the shaking began. The fact there is such an early warning solution successfully operating in California seems not to be well known. Chief Goetz says he is pleased to have an opportunity to address the facts and the realities of this effective earthquake warning solution by contributing to this article.
Goetz emphasizes that an effective early earthquake warning system must be capable of warning all of those affected by an earthquake. Most earthquakes in California occur in or very near urban centers. Seismic Warning Systems (SWS), the provider of the Coachella Valley System, has developed and provided a unique technology that eliminates" the Blind Zone" for all likely earthquakes in urban areas. A Blind Zone is a circular region, centered on the epicenter, in which the damaging ground motions arrive before an earthquake warning is delivered. This can happen if the system takes too long to analyze ground motions before deciding to send a warning.
Beta test systems provided by others have thus far failed to provide alerts in Blind Zones within 20 miles of the epicenter. The Coachella Valley Earthquake Warning System (CREWS) technology does not have a Blind Zone, meaning that every person, every emergency responder and every business regardless of distance from the epicenter can have effective actionable earthquake warning
The system developer, Seismic Warning Systems, (SWS) which provides the Coachella Valley systems is based in California, (Scotts Valley). They are now seeking to create more public-private partnerships to implement their technology state wide.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors recently approved a $250,000 contract award to SWS.
The system for Imperial County will initially protect fire stations, hospitals, public dispatch centers and Imperial Irrigation District assets. The project was envisioned in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.2 Baja California Earthquake that struck on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2010.With the addition of Imperial County, a regional system will become a reality.
Chief Goetz summarizes by saying, "This regional earthquake warning model can be applied in the rest of California and will not require huge expenditures of tax dollars to develop. It will provide warning for those people very near the epicenter. We applaud the efforts of Senator Padilla and our Governors Office of Emergency Management in making earthquake warning a priority, and doing so in the light of financial limitations. We can achieve implementation of an effective statewide early warning earthquake system by focusing on, and maximizing, the benefits of collaboration with established leading technology".
Harold (Hal) Good, CPPO, is the former Director of Procurement and Contracting for the City of Palm Springs, CA. He worked with Chief Blake Goetz to implement the early warning earthquake systems at the Palm Springs fire stations. Good can be contacted at: contractpro1@gmail.com
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