We do it all here at the Voice. Topics galore that go from intensely local to lessons learned from afar. Today's WSJ has an article about the early warning systems - plural - serving Mexico City. They have three. We Californians have a half of a system and nothing that reaches regular residents. Here's the lessons that I drew from the piece:
-A non-profit called Center for Seismic Instrumentation and Registry (CIRES) has the government stamp of approval, but two tech start-ups, Grillo and SkyAlert are taking a different, more digital approach.
-CIRES has 96 sensors on the Pacific Coast that feed a system that makes public announcements on TV, radio and public places with the idea of a one-minute warning.
-Grillo and SkyAlert want to send alerts via wireless networks to phones, Twitter and in-home alarms--in other words more immediate and personal.
-The choice of sensors is important to avoid false alarms with a choice between cheap Asian sensors and better Japanese sensors (I know, both are Asian, but Japan has been working on this problem for years.
The Local Angle: First, here is you reminder that the BNN Emergency Drill Day is coming up on October 12th. Last year's is described here. Find the closest one to you and join it. Second, if we are to be burdened with high-cost, high-speed rail, the least the Authority can do is spend a little of the $100+ billion on an early-warning system and interface the trains to it. You could argue Caltrain and Amtrak should also do that and they should, but they aren't doing 110 mph through densely populated areas.
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