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Snotnose writes:

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/08/24/uc-berkeley-early-warning-system-predicted-south-napa-earthquake/ [kqed.org] says UC Berkely's Shakealert system gave them a 10 second warning before this morning's earthquake.
[quote]
To predict the quakes, scientists use a sensor to detect the arrival of the first round of waves called primary waves or p-waves. These waves are fast but rarely cause any damage. P-waves are followed by secondary waves or s-waves which are slower but do more harm.

However, ShakeAlert doesn’t have enough backing to scale up, according to Richard Allen who directs the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.

It will cost $80 million over five years to test and deploy the system and another $12 million a year for operational costs.
[/quote]
Sounds like an interesting system, but one has to wonder. 10 seconds warning for an event that happens every 25 hears? I'd spend those 10 seconds trying to figure out where the alarm was coming from. I'd also need to clock it, but I'll bet waking up at 3:30 AM, figuring out something was up, finding some pants, grabbing the cat, and heading outside will take me at least 11 seconds, probably more.

On the other hand, that $80 million + $12 mil/year sounds like money better spent than on the lame ass bullet train to nowhere our local politicians are so eager to build. Although the $12 mil/year sounds like somebody's research project is getting fully funded for a while....

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