Earthquake in Progress: Your Laptop Can Save You!

TheQuake Catcher Networkis the latest effort in circulate computation that aims to turn your figurer into a node in a vast , distributed earthquake detection web . Developed by University of California seismologists and computer scientist , Quake Catcher uses accelerometer already built into many laptops to notice shaking . If several nodes produce consistent hits at once , the word goes out across the internet in real clip : seism in Progress . Once there are enough nodes in active fault geographical zone , the researchers think they can beak up seismic waves on the connection and transmit a admonition to populated areas with somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds of warning . After the break , we take a look at three of the most dangerous places on Earth that are most probable to involve Quake Catcher .

The San Francisco Bay Area . Let ’s face it : Californians have sex be hazardously . San Francisco was about wipe out in 1906 by a big mover and shaker that register 7.9 on the Richter weighing machine . fire swept through the urban center and delineation from afterwards resemble Hiroshima circa September , 1945 . The city was rocked again in 1989 by the Loma Prieta quake . Stress is always ramp up all along the San Andreas fracture , so Southern California ’s also at risk . But the front of the Hayward fault in Berkeley , just across the bay from San Francisco makes the place a time bomb waiting to go off : a 2002 report by theUSGSsaid there ’s a 62 % opportunity of a magnitude 6.7 or greater seism in the part between 2003 and 2032 .

The Cascadia subduction geographical zone , better known as coastal Oregon , Washington State , and Vancouver Island . Cascadia make the San Andreas look like a dyad of maracas . late work from seismologist Chris Goldfinger and company at Oregon State University usher that Cascadia has unleashed hell to the tune of 15 quakes of magnitude 8.0 or neat over the last 3000 years . Eight of those probably exceeded 9.0 , making them among the most muscular know . The average time between quake is around 220 years , but the last metre the fault slipped was 1700 , when a 9.0 quake mail a 5 - meter high tsunami rippling onto the shoring of Japan . In light , front out Pacific Rim : you ’re overdue .

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Mentawai Islands , Indonesia . Everyone knows Indonesia is a tough place to live when it do to earthquakes and tsunamis ( at go forth you’re able to see Banda Aceh before and after the recent tsunami ) , but unless you ’re learn the watch it ’s gruelling to penetrate just how bad things are . Back in December , earthquake expert Danny Natawidjaja of the Indonesian Institute of Sciencesdropped some knowledgeon the rest of the geo - residential district at the annual Fall group meeting of the American Geophysical Union . Not only had there been add-on an 8.4 seism in September of 2007 , but a major section of the error was still interlace , and had the potency to shake the Earth even harder than the 2004 monster that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami .

He had no estimation how right he was . Between February 25 and March 3 of this year ( that ’s one hebdomad , for those keep scotch at family ) there were five earthquakes with child than order of magnitude 6.5 . The discussion section of fault Natawidjaja was sing about in December still has n’t pop .

Note : If you want to participate in Quake Catcher , but do n’t have a laptop with an accelerometer build in : For desktop , QCN has work up a USB keystone with the appropriate hardware , and Ars Technica isteasingus with the possibility of Wii and iPhone - based signal detection .

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