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National Public Earthquake Early Warning Systems Emerging Across Central America.

Description: 

Within the next 2 years, operational public EEW will emerge across Central America. In this region, with high earthquake hazard, a vulnerable building stock, and rapidly increasing population density, an EEW system can mitigate some of the casualties from the frequent subduction and shallow crustal earthquakes. The ATTAC (Alerta Temprana de Terremotos en América Central) project includes seismic agencies in Guatemala (INSIVUMEH), El Salvador (MARN), Nicaragua (INETER), and Costa Rica (OVSICORI-UNA) together with SED at ETH Zurich in an effort to build national public EEW systems. Each EEW system operates on a high-quality permanent seismic network with the ETHZ SeisComP EEW (ESE) system that ncludes the Virtual Seismologist and FinDer EEW algorithms. 70 new low-latency EEW-ready accelerographs have been deployed across the region. In order to track the network and to monitor EEW configuration and results, performance-tracking tools and procedures have been introduced. A dissemination module allows to select the best EEW solution, and to provide targeted alerts to the public through the various dissemination channels. Currently, alerts to limited user numbers are delivered via a mobile App and the Japanese-developed EWBS system based on digital TV EWBS, each of which can be expected to scale to the population. The Mobile app is the most promising. Basic data analysis demonstrated that at least 74% percent of the app users can receive a notification in less or equal to 5 seconds. We analyze the current performances regarding accuracy and speed (ranging from 10-15s for shallow on-shore seismicity, and between 20-25s for offshore or deep events), we demonstrate successful EEW for the recent felt earthquakes, and we show how we intend to extend EEW to public users across the region. Improving network practice and software management remains a priority because false alerts are typically related to configuration and metadata errors.

Session: Earthquake Early Warning Optimization and Efficacy [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/20/2023

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: John Clinton

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Authors