Alert Tech: Tsunami Detector for Nokia Cell Phones and Quake Alert Earthquake Alarm

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

These are technologies that I have to file under “sounds great but how to do you test them?” It’s not like you stand around waiting for “the big one” and then shake you fist at the QuakeAlert screaming “fraud” as your house collapses over you. But I do like to see technical solutions for scary disasters, especially after what happened in 2005.

Indian Ocean Tsunami Detector
By Tea Vui Huang

The disastrous 26th December 2004 earthquake that struck the unmonitored Indian Ocean caused the death of over 117,000 lives in 11 countries. Mobile Tsunami Detector is a tsunami prediction program that filters and analyses LIVE data from the United States Geological Surveys (USGS) Earthquake reading. Probability and impact time of Tsunamis are assessed and reported immediately for countries bordering the Indian Ocean. More Info Here (Including free download)

QuakeAlert
QuakeAlert is an electronic earthquake early warning device that will provide the user with a warning of up to 2 minutes of an impending earthquake. With research and development funding from the National Research Council of Canada and rigorous testing by the University of British Columbia, QuakeAlert is the first line defense in accurate warning of imminent earthquake activity.

QuakeAlert reacts to vertical ground movements caused by vibrations in the form of motion waves from an earthquake. The QuakeAlert detector senses the arrival of primary (P) waves, the first waves to reach the detector, and so provides adequate time to react before the arrival of more destructive shear (S) and rally (R) waves. This warning is possible by the use of a transducing element set, adjusted to the frequency of the (P) waves. The detector is extremely accurate and will sound only when a vertical displacement above a critical level occurs. Source: Innovative Technologies