Early earthquake alerts begin in U.S. Pacific Northwest

A new early warning system for earthquakes begins today in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, and scientists say the few seconds of preparation it will allow for could save lives.

"The traffic lights might turn from yellow to red and slow down the traffic, surgeries might be interrupted, elevators could stop at the right place," JohnVidale, the director of thePacific Northwest Seismic Networkat the University of Washington toldThe Early Edition'sRickCluff.

"A lot of it'ssituationalawareness too if people know what's happening, they're better prepared to do the right thing and with even 10 seconds of warning you can go find your kids or your dog and just be more ready to face what's coming."

The project is being piloted starting today in select businesses and agencies inWashington State, including Microsoft, Boeing and Providence Hospital.

Vidalesaidthe system creates an alert as quickly as four seconds after initial, harmless waves called P waves hit, possibly giving people just a bit more advanced warning before the ground-shaking S waves arrive.

"Earthquake. Earthquake. Shaking to begin in 15 seconds," a robotic voice will announce.

"Our instruments notice the ground shaking in an earthquake and we can figure out how big the earthquake is very quickly before the shaking gets to many locations, so it's actually very simple," he said.

As part of the pilot project, 240seismometershave been installed throughout Washington and Oregon to detect vibrations and send readings to computers at the University of Washington for analysis.

The team is also using data from sensors that are already installed throughout British Columbia.

Vidalesaid if the system is effective, the alerts could be more widely available in the next year or two.

Similar earthquake alerts are already used in Japan to slow bullet trains to prevent derailment, trigger alarms in schools and shut down manufacturing equipment.

To hear the full interview with JohnVidale, click the audio labelled: Early earthquake alerts piloted in Pacific Northwest.