Earthquake early warning

The SED is currently testing an earthquake early warning system. Monitoring stations close to an earthquake immediately register the seismic waves it generates and trigger a warning for areas further away. Such warnings can be issued because the measurements are transmitted at the speed of light, i.e. faster than the speed at which seismic waves are propagated (around 3.5 km per second). However, since earthquake early warnings can only be given at a certain distance from the epicentre and are only useful for more powerful earthquakes, their practical use for Switzerland remains to be determined.

play Play animation © SRF Einstein