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Cal Tech and Other Universities to Receive $4.9 Million to Advance West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System
News Aug 17, 2017
The Wilson Fire - Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
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Congressman Adam Schiff and Dr. Lucy Jones. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Congressman Adam Schiff and Dr. Lucy Jones held a joint press conference In June. Schiff sent a letter along with his colleagues to President Trump expressing grave concern that the White House eliminated funding for the West Coast Earthquake Early Warning system in its Fiscal Year 2018 budget request
On Monday Aug. 14, the U.S. Geological Survey awarded approximately $4.9 million this week to six universities and a university-governed non-profit, to support transitioning the west coast “ShakeAlert” earthquake early warning system into a production system. The awards are for a new set of two-year cooperative agreements with California Institute of Technology, Central Washington University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oregon, University of Washington, University of Nevada, Reno and UNAVCO, Inc. Additionally, the USGS has purchased about $1 million in new sensor equipment to expand and improve the ShakeAlert system. These efforts, as well as internal work that the USGS is conducting, are possible because of $10.2 million in funding to the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program for ShakeAlert provided by Congress earlier this year.
An earthquake early warning system can give people a precious few seconds to stop what they are doing and take protective actions before the severe shaking waves from an earthquake arrive. Under the new cooperative agreements, the USGS and its seven university and non-profit partners will collaborate to improve the ShakeAlert system’s sensor and telemetry infrastructure across the west coast of the United States. ShakeAlert is a new product of the USGS Advanced National Seismic System, a federation of national and regional earthquake monitoring networks throughout the country, including networks in southern California, northern California, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest.
On Monday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who has worked to secure funding in the annual congressional funding bills specifically designated for a West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System, released the following statement:
“The additional $4.9 million awarded to the Earthquake Early Warning System brings us one step closer to fully deploying this technology which can saves lives in the event of a major earthquake. I will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to provide funding for this vital public safety system to ensure that it reaches its full potential. We know that it is a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ a major earthquake will strike the West Coast, and a fully operational Early Warning System will help us be ready.”
In June, Schiff sent a letter along with his colleagues to President Trump expressing grave concern that the White House eliminated funding for the West Coast Earthquake Early Warning system in its Fiscal Year 2018 budget request. In March, Schiff, along with 36 colleagues in Congress, sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee urging them to increase federal funding level to $16.1 million in the Fiscal Year 2018 to fully build and maintain an earthquake early warning system on the West Coast, resulting in $10.2 million for the system. Schiff previously secured $8.2 million in the FY 2016 funding bill specifically designated for a West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System. The $8.2 million was a substantial increase over what the President requested in his budget. In 2015, Schiff also led a group of 35 Members of Congress – primarily from California, Washington, and Oregon – to request that the Appropriations Committee fund an Earthquake Early Warning System for the West Coast.
The final FY16 budget funds the Early Warning System at a higher level than the $5 million originally included in the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. The funding level in the FY16 budget also exceeded the President’s $5 million budget request earlier this year. Senator Feinstein, Rep. Schiff and 35 other Members of Congress sent a letter to the President in October 2014, asking him to include funding for the West Coast Early Warning System for FY2016. In December 2014, Congress passed a funding bill for FY2015 which included an additional $5 million specifically for the Earthquake Early Warning System, bringing the total funding for the system for FY2015 to $6.5 million.
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