quick! Even faster! “Metropolitan Area Strong Earthquake Early Warning Improvement Plan” to make national-level earthquake warnings more useful
This article is written by Central Meteorological Administration of the Ministry of Transport Commissioned, pan-science planning and implementation.
Approximately how long does it take from the time a seismometer senses the vibrations of an earthquake to when our cellphones ring a national alert?
Taiwan began to build a large number of seismic stations in 1991; in 1999, the 921 earthquake occurred in Taiwan, and the earthquake early warning system at that time completed the earthquake location approximately 102 seconds after the earthquake; in 2014, an immediate warning of strong earthquakes was officially launched to the public; in In April 2020, with the continuous innovation of technology, the Earthquake Prediction and Forecasting Center of the Central Meteorological Bureau of the Ministry of Transport (hereinafter referred to as the Earthquake Center) was able to issue earthquake warning messages in just 10 seconds!
However, the seismological center has not become complacent and continues to expand its seismic observation network and develop new technologies. In recent years, the Earthquake Center has implemented the Forward-looking Infrastructure 2.0 “Metropolitan Area Strong Earthquake Early Warning Improvement Plan”, which is expected to bring Taiwan’s earthquake early warning system into the next new era!
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Get connected to the Internet!Use construction and technology in exchange for time to obtain seismic data
The “Metropolitan Area Strong Earthquake Early Warning Improvement Plan” originated from the “People’s Livelihood Public Internet of Things Data Application and Industry Development Plan”. This plan is committed to cross-ministerial and cross-unit cooperation. It is jointly planned by 11 execution units and is committed to optimizing China’s environment and disaster prevention management, and the establishment of an open data platform.
Seeing this, maybe you haven’t realized what the relationship between the earthquake early warning system and the Internet of Things (IoT) is. Hehe, it has a lot to do with it!
When we connect various physical items through the Internet and establish communication with each other and devices, it becomes the so-called Internet of Things. In my country’s earthquake early warning system, real-time monitoring and early warning of seismic activity is achieved by transmitting seismometer data to a networked system in real time and performing calculations.
The Earthquake Center has set up more than 700 strong earthquake monitoring stations in Taiwan, but only 500 of them can be connected to the Earthquake Center in real time. Through this project, the Earthquake Center will strive to increase the number of connectable strong earthquake monitoring stations. , and optimize the networking quality of the original strong earthquake monitoring stations.
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In the earthquake center’s assessment, the number of strong earthquake monitoring stations that can be connected will be increased from the original 500 to 600 in about 2013, and the software and hardware equipment of existing monitoring stations will be updated to improve seismic performance. Effectiveness of early warning systems.
It can be seen from this that if the seismograph does not have the function of networking, we will completely lose everything in the earthquake early warning system.
What are the benefits of putting a seismometer underground?
In addition to enhancing the networking capabilities of seismometers, putting seismometers “underground” is also a key approach to improving the effectiveness of earthquake early warning systems.
Why put seismometers underground? To use an analogy from daily life, it’s like when buying a house, you should choose a quiet community amidst the hustle and bustle, so that the noisy environment will not affect your listening to beautiful music in the room; when looking at the stars, you should choose a community with less light pollution. Only in serious mountainous areas can you clearly see the beautiful starry sky twinkling one after another.
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There are too many environmental noises on the surface. Therefore, when a seismometer is installed on the surface, trying to find the key seismic waves among the chaotic “noise” is like listening to the phone at a rock concert. Difficulty, both computers and researchers need to spend a lot of time to interpret the waveforms from earthquakes.
Where do these environmental noises come from? Basically, any man-made vibration you can think of may be “noise” to a seismometer!
When the seismometer is close to the construction site or the road, large trucks pass by the measuring station, making noise; Dadaocheng Summer Festival sets off gorgeous fireworks, and the fireworks explode one by one in the sky. , is also noise; the friction and vibration of the Taipei MRT track are also noise; when curious passers-by pass by and push and kick the station, it is also a noise that cannot be ignored.
Therefore, the main purpose of the Borehole seismometer is to keep the seismometer “away from the hustle and bustle” as much as possible to record clearer seismic waves with less noise! Whether it is a micro earthquake, a strong earthquake, or an earthquake from afar, underground seismometers can provide much higher quality signals than surface seismometers.
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In 2008, the Seismological Center launched an operation to build downhole seismometer observation stations. According to the geological conditions under different measuring stations, downhole seismometers were placed in dry wells with a depth of 30 to 500 meters. In addition to seismometers, the station building will also be equipped with data recorders, network transmission equipment, uninterruptible power supply equipment and batteries, allowing the station to store and transmit data.
Since underground seismometers are so powerful, why can’t they build measurement stations on a large scale? Simply put, it all comes down to technology and cost issues.
Installing downhole seismometers requires drilling. However, the depth and difficulty of drilling will increase the cost of time, technology and money. Therefore, no matter how good the signal of downhole seismometers is, it will be difficult to build them in large numbers without the support of national construction plans.
How serious is the earthquake disaster when the population gathers? Establish a “customized” earthquake early warning system!
The population of Taiwan is mainly concentrated in the western half. However, the shallow focal depth in this area, coupled with the dense population and buildings, can easily cause quite serious disasters.
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The buildings in many urban areas are old and dense. When a house is over 50 years old, it is likely to have been built without seismic regulations. If it is more than 25 years old, it may not meet the latest seismic regulations. Earthquake-resistant specifications do not have sufficient earthquake-resistant capabilities under current standards.
Further reading:
There is a famous saying in the earthquake community: “Earthquakes don’t kill people, but buildings do.” Therefore, if the structure of the building does not meet the earthquake regulations, when an earthquake occurs, the denser the old houses in the same area, the more casualties it is likely to cause. .
Therefore, for direct earthquakes that occur in urban areas, the requirements for early warning time are higher and the demand is more urgent.
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The Earthquake Center has begun to develop a “customized” strong earthquake early warning system in densely populated urban areas. It targets direct shallow earthquakes in urban areas. It can issue earthquake warnings “within 7 seconds after the earthquake” and reduce the blind zone of earthquake early warning to 25 kilometers.
Since 2011, the Seismological Center has completed customized operation modules for the Greater Taipei area and Taoyuan City, and has begun online testing. It is currently working on the module for Tainan City, and its future targets are Kaohsiung City and Taichung City.
Never-ending disaster prevention publicity activities and earthquake early warning technology research and development
The earthquake early warning system can only warn people to evacuate when an earthquake strikes, but cannot actively protect people’s lives. If people do not have the correct concept of earthquake prevention and disaster prevention, no matter how fast the earthquake warning is, it will not be able to achieve effective disaster prevention results.
Therefore, in addition to constantly innovating the technology of the earthquake early warning system, the Earthquake Center also actively invests in earthquake publicity activities and education channels, operating a Facebook fan page “Reporting Earthquakes – Central Meteorological Administration” and inter-department meetingsEarthquake Island Adventure“Special Exhibition,”Protecting Home—People’s Livelihood Public Internet of Things Theme Exhibition》, let the public understand the correct evacuation behavior and emergency response measures, and give full play to the effect of earthquake warning.
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In addition, although the Earthquake Center expects to reduce the warning time in urban areas to 7 seconds in 2014, the pace of developing new technologies will not stop; in the future, they will apply AI technology to continue to enhance the effectiveness of the earthquake early warning system and reduce the impact of earthquakes on the people of Taiwan. to ensure the safety of your life and property.
