INNOVATION May-June 2014

f ea t ures

Earthquake Early Warning System Could Save Lives

School Authorities are Installing UBC-designed Sensors to Keep Kids Safe

Burying the plastic cones with strong motion detectors for earthquake early warning.

D’Arcy Jenish

British Columbians received a jolting reminder on April 23 that they live in a seismically turbulent part of the world when a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurred off the northeastern tip of Vancouver Island near the town of Port Hardy. The quake itself occurred at 8:10 pm, and three aftershocks followed over the next two hours. Earthquakes of that magnitude are classed as ruinous on seismic scales and can cause buildings to collapse and pipes to burst when the earthquake occurs near enough. People as far away as Kelowna and Seattle reported that they felt the reverbera- tions while residents of Port Hardy, with a population of just over

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