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Regroup's initial earthquake warning capability for S'Francisco

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Abhigna
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SAN FRANCISCO: In conjunction with Regroup's collaborative work with the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management through Mayor Ed Lee's Entrepreneurship-in-Residence (EIR) program, Joe DiPasquale, CEO of Regroup, presented work on a multilingual, automated early earthquake warning notification system.

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Earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay area such as in 1906 and the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 caused both death and destruction. There is a 94 per cent chance of an earthquake stronger than Loma Prieta occurring in California in the next 30 years. San Francisco is especially susceptible due to its proximity to the Hayward and San Andreas fault lines. Through seismometers placed by the US geological survey on faultlines, it is known that earthquakes will come up to minutes before they hit an area. But, this information is not currently announced. Recently, a state-wide, unfunded mandate was put into place for early earthquake notifications, as per this press release.

If Regroup's early earthquake warning functionality were to go into production, this would be the first of its type in the United States, it stated.

Other countries such as Japan have implemented such a system. It would also be one of the few cities in the U.S. where emergency messaging is sent in multiple languages. The San Francisco Language Access Ordinance (LAO), formerly known as the Equal Access to Services (EAS) Ordinance, was enacted in 2001 to ensure official notifications are sent in commonly-spoken languages such as English, Chinese, Spanish and Tagalog.

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Regroup's pilot system would trigger notifications to cell phones, landlines, email, websites, social media, digital signage and other communication channels to provide city officials and citizens with the rapid early earthquake warnings (EEW) they need in order to take protective measures. Regroup would integrate with federally funded California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) ShakeAlert EEW, which currently provides notifications to a closed system via a desktop application.

When warning times can run from seconds to minutes, depending on strength and distance from the epicenter, it is critical that EEW notifications be automated. Triggered EEW alerts would drastically speed up the process and provide the additional time citizens need to take actions for reducing the risk of serious injury or death, i.e., moving to a more structurally sound building, moving away from windows or equipment, turning off gas burners, etc. The faster delivery of early earthquake warnings would also provide city officials with the valuable time they need to implement emergency response protocols, the company explained.

Following Regroup's selection into the EIR program this year, Rahul Mewawalla, Innovation Officer said, "The ability to quickly and easily reach large numbers of people across a wide range of situations and environments is critical for enhancing public safety in cities and states across the nation."