Japanese mobile users to get advance quake warnings
Another post in the Disaster management technologies series. Japanese mobile telephone users may soon be warned of an earthquake in their area just before it strikes. Japan’s two biggest operators, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI have announced that they are jointly developing a system to notify customers of an imminent earthquake. Now the first question I have is: What good will it do? What will YOU do if you find out that a big earthquake is coming in 5 seconds?
And the second question is: How will this work?
The system will pass on information from the Japanese meteorological agency which has developed a way of detecting earthquakes several seconds before the main tremor strikes.
The companies did not say which type of messaging they would use but acknowledged that email — a common way of communicating via cellphone in Japan — would risk overwhelming their mobile networks. SMS is less common in Japan but it is a likely candidate for this kind of alert, I think.
The meteorological agency’s early-warning system detects the first underground tremors that come before the main quake and estimates their intensity before big seismic waves reach the surface.
Japan, which endures 20 percent of the world’s major tremors, prides itself on having one of the world’s most accurate systems for assessing earthquakes and predicting tsunamis.
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[…] And the second question is: How will this work? Read it here. […]
After living in Japan for almost 10 years, I think 10-15 seconds is alot of time. It usually takes less than a few seconds to get out of the house. Here are a few more things you could do with 10-15 seconds:
1. Get away from dangerous spots in the house (remember, things move vertical in this country, think a tall book shlef)
2. Find your 9month olds or 3 years olds and move them to safer corners.
3. Stop driving on bridges and highways
4. Jump out of the house, if you live in old house
5. Move to safer corners on construction sites
6. Get away from anything that may hit you…think super markets and convenience stores
7. Test all this by using a stop watch while thinking of a dangerous earthquake…………trust me, you can do alot in that 10-15 seconds warning.
These little things count alot at the end of the day. A couple weeks back, there was a 6.8 earthquake with 10 deaths and lots of destruction.
I thought to write these few lines just to give the readers a little awareness that little things add up at the end of the day.
PS…As compared to sms, another text based system called chat mail is used. Its free from all providers and its different from email.
AUA - thanks for your comments. I agree, if you are well prepared the 10-15 seconds can make a big difference.
Fortunately for me the few years I spent in suburbs of Tokyo, there were no major earthquakes. But after the Kobe quake, all the things from the top of office cabinets were cleared.