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Showing matches for "earthquake early warning"
Megathrust Chilean quake captured on ONC sensors
Overview
On 16 September 2015, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurred at 22:54:33 UTC off the Chilean coast, 229 kilometres northwest of Santiago and at a depth of 25 km. This subduction quake was the result of thrust faulting at the interface of two major tectonic plates, the so-called megathrust, forcing the Nazca plate to push beneath the South American continent. The size, location, depth and movement of this event are consistent with a megathrust event in Southern Chile. There is a one in 10 chance that the west coast of Canada will experience a similar megathrust quake—over magnitude 8.4—within 50 years. # Realtime seismic monitoring at ONC Three Ocean Networks Canada broadband seismometers recorded this event in realtime, 10,500 kilometres from the origin of the quake. These instruments lie buried in sediments at Cascadia Basin, Clayoquot Slope and Endeavour observatory sites off the BC coast. ![Earthquake_Display_Sep18.png](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/Earthquake_Display_Sep18_bc9f5a9a25.png) ONC’s new Earthquake Display, currently under development, shows the selected earthquake (right table), the selected seismometer location (lower table) and the distance between (green line). All three plots start at the time of the earthquake and have a duration of one hour. At the13-minute mark, ONC seismometers recorded the first ground motion or primary (P) waves caused by the earthquake followed by secondary (S) waves at 24 minutes. P and S waves travel through the earth’s interior while the slower secondary waves travel on the earth’s surface, as their name suggests. As indicated in the time-series above, surface waves usually cause the strongest ground motion.
Taking action before the shaking starts
Overview
**NEWS RELEASE** Scientists the world over cannot reliably predict an earthquake yet, but they are using today’s technology to rapidly detect an earthquake just as it begins to happen. On Wednesday October 14 at 10 a.m., in coordination with the Great BC Shakeout event, the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada is teaming up with UVic Electrical Engineering students to illustrate how ONC’s earthquake notification technology and a student-designed alarm system can provide vital seconds to help people make important decisions, before the shaking starts. ![Taking Action When Seconds Count_0.jpg](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/Taking_Action_When_Seconds_Count_0_a6e4ed2135.jpg) Using a big countdown timer and video, the demonstration will take a magnitude 9 megathrust scenario—the Big One—and explain how ONC offshore sensors can detect the first signs of an earthquake and send out notifications that allow critical actions to take place that can save lives and automatically mitigate damage. “ONC is the only organization in Canada that has earthquake sensors offshore,” says Adrian Round, ONC’s director of observatory operations and a director of U Vic’s Emergency Operations Centre. “With just a few seconds of warning, automatic systems can slow trains, shut down gas lines, halt surgeries and keep fire hall bay doors open. And people of all ages can find a safe place to drop, cover and hold on until the shaking stops.” UVic’s vice-president Finance and Operations, Gayle Gorrill and Oak Bay fire chief and president of BC Earthquake Alliance, Dave Cockle are joining the demonstration at Vertigo in the Student Union Building, to help ramp up awareness of ShakeOut, the worldwide earthquake drill held every year in October. Local emergency preparedness teams from U Vic, Victoria, Oak Bay, Saanich, and ShakeOut BC will also be on hand to share with students how they can best prepare themselves and respond quickly when the Big One strikes. ONC's Web-enabled Awareness Research Network ([WARN](http://www.canarie.ca/software/platforms/warn/)), developed in 2014, is a research software platform that coordinates information detected from ONC sensors and calculates key parameters such as earthquake epicentre, magnitude and time to ground-shaking. The technology receives data from seismic instruments and delivers a notification, in this case, to the earthquake alarm developed by UVic electrical engineering students, based on a sample earthquake scenario. “ONC provides the sensor data to help make decisions, when seconds count,” adds Round. “But effective earthquake early warning requires a huge collaborative effort, involving governments, science, industry, and the will of the public.”
Making progress on earthquake early warning
Overview
During the night on 27 January 1700, a powerful magnitude 9 earthquake ruptured the Pacific coast along the Cascadia subduction fault zone. Historical records, as far away as Japan, confirm this devastating event. ![1700_quake_Atwater_talk_Jul2015.jpg](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/1700_quake_Atwater_talk_Jul2015_7d440a83ba.jpg) Fast forward 316 years. Scientists now believe that major fault lines build up pressure over hundreds of years, and eventually release the pressure as a megathrust earthquake. Before that can happen, Ocean Networks Canada is poised to send an advance warning with sensors and software that can detect an earthquake—up to 90 seconds before the major shaking starts. Earthquake early warning is a vital part of preparing for, and responding to, a major earthquake. It’s about delivering critical seconds of action that will save lives, reduce damage, support emergency response and kick-start recovery operations. While Pacific nations such as Japan and Taiwan have fully integrated earthquake early warning systems, western North America is still in the building stages. An effective system requires collaboration among leaders and innovators in science, engineering and public safety—organizations such as [Natural Resources Canada](http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/index-eng.php), British Columbia’s [Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure](http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/transportation-and-infrastructure), Emergency Management BC, the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada and many others. This concentration of planning is mirrored south of the border where people and government agencies are equally wary of the locked plates of the Cascadia subduction zone, stretching from northern California to British Columbia. # A key piece in the puzzle: offshore sensors Ocean Networks Canada operates observatory sites on the Cascadia subduction zone, with a number of seismic sensors sitting on the Juan de Fuca plate, on or close to the major fault line. This proximity allows for faster alerts that can provide coastal communities and urban centres with precious seconds to take action, before the major shaking starts. ![20150914_WARN_700KB_0.jpg](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/20150914_WARN_700_KB_0_347ff4f44d.jpg) More sensors, both on the seafloor and on land, would increase the areas monitored and provide a denser, more effective network, in line with the proven system that blankets Japan. ## Directing disaster info into the right hands with WARN ONC’s Web-enabled Awareness Research Network (WARN) software platform currently being tested, will deliver notification of impending earthquake shaking —almost immediately—that let emergency decision-makers and automatic safeguard systems take critical actions such as shutting down gas lines, pausing elevators, keeping firehall doors raised, halting surgery, stopping bridge traffic and slowing down trains. Coordinating data from a number of sensors in different locations, WARN does not just detect events; it also makes measurements such as the severity and epicentre of an earthquake, or the speed and direction of a tsunami. - WARN: providing rapid notifications to alert communities ([Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network brochure](http://www.canarie.ca/software/platforms/warn/)) ## Looking to the near future: collaborations are key British Columbia will be testing its first full scale mock earthquake scenario and immediate response plan in June at Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island. ‘Exercise Coastal Response’ is a million-dollar exercise that will include all levels of government, Indigenous peoples, first responders and other specialists. ONC also plans to install additional earthquake early warning sensors on land and offshore, during this summer’s Wiring the Abyss expedition. > “Effective earthquake early warning really is a shared responsibility. We’re all in this together: scientists, engineers and elected officials, plus every family and individual in British Columbia. We have the people and the expertise and the will. Let’s be ready for the big one.” **Kate Moran, ONC President & CEO** ### Related stories: [Researchers look to improve earthquake warning system](http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/researchers-look-to-improve-earthquake-warning-system-1.2159526) (Victoria Times Colonist, October 2016)
Ocean Networks Canada to coordinate earthquake early warning system for B.C.
Overview
NEWS RELEASE ​Earthquake early warning receives a big boost in British Columbia today. Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria, will develop a regional earthquake early warning system for southern British Columbia—home to over 50% of the province’s residents—with funding from the province.
Deployed: the first spike for British Columbia's earthquake early warning system
Overview
In June 2016, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) successfully deployed and connected the first of several earthquake early warning sensors on the Cascadia subduction zone. It will be part of a network of seismic sensors that ONC will install underwater and on land as part of an earthquake early warning system funded by Emergency Management British Columbia (EMBC).
Ocean Networks Canada sensors detect earthquake in central Mexico
Overview
NEWS RELEASE Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) underwater earthquake sensors off the west coast of Vancouver Island detected in real-time the magnitude 7.1 earthquake in central Mexico today. ![09-2017-EEW-dashboard.jpg](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/09_2017_EEW_dashboard_0e2a587152.jpg) The sensors—located at Barkley Canyon, Cascadia Basin and Endeavour on and near the Cascadia subduction zone—recorded seismic activity from more than 4,000 kilometres away. > “Today’s earthquake in central Mexico is yet another reminder and opportunity for British Columbia to ramp up efforts to complete our earthquake early warning system before the ‘Big One’ hits,” says ONC Innovation Centre Business Analyst Teron Moore. Earlier this month, [ONC sensors also picked up the magnitude 8.1 earthquake](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/earthquakes-shed-light-on-british-columbias-early-warning-system/) that struck off Mexico’s southwest coast near the Guatemalan border. In February 2016, the Government of British Columbia [invested $5 million](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/ocean-networks-canada-to-coordinate-earthquake-early-warning-system-for-bc/) for ONC to develop and install an earthquake early warning system. British Columbia’s earthquake early warning system is currently in development and will be installed, tested and delivered to Emergency Management BC by March 2019. Once completed, the system will be capable of providing British Columbians with advance warning of a large mega-thrust earthquake occurring at the Cascadia subduction zone. Unlike Mexico’s land-based sensors, British Columbia’s earthquake early warning system has the advantage of underwater sensors deployed on or near the Cascadia subduction zone. The closer a sensor is to an earthquake’s epicentre, the more advance warning can be provided. ONC is an initiative of the University of Victoria. # More Information: [Ocean Networks Canada Earthquake Data Dashboard webpage](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/data/data-dashboards/earthquake-data-dashboard/) [Ocean Networks Canada Earthquake Early Warning webpage](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/services/earthquake-early-warning/) ## Media Contact: onc-comms@uvic.ca
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