Millions of people live in earthquake-prone regions, and they are in constant danger of earthquakes and tsunamis. When these disasters strike, they may lose their loved ones and homes. However, authorities can minimize those impacts with the earthquake tsunami warning system (ETWS).
This system is a vital tool for saving more lives during earthquakes and tsunamis. In addition, it helps authorities or government agencies to effectively manage the crisis caused by these disasters. Therefore, they can minimize the impact of these disasters.
What is an Earthquake Tsunami Warning System?
About twenty years ago, Aceh province in Indonesia suffered a devastating megathrust earthquake. After the earthquake, a massive tsunami swept the region and caused over 170.000 people to lose their lives.
The combination of earthquake and tsunami also caused severe infrastructural damage in Aceh. Due to these disasters, experts and authorities collaborated to create an ETWS. The earthquake and tsunami warning system is a network consisting of sensors and communication tools.
How Does the ETWS Work
The ETWS is a complex system. In general, sensors detect early seismic waves or abnormal sea-level changes. After that, they send data to satellites. Next, the satellites send the warning information to warning centers owned by authorities.
Once the authorities get this message, they will disseminate messages to warn people within the radius of these natural disasters. People may get this alert a few seconds before an earthquake or a tsunami strikes their region.
However, these few seconds matter. Within this period, people can do many things to save their lives, such as get out of a hazardous area or hide under the table. Therefore, more people can save their lives.
System Levels
The earthquake tsunami warning system comes in several levels. They are as follows.
International System: The international system covers a wider scope and coordinates with several countries in earthquake and tsunami detection and warning dissemination. Some examples of international ETWS are PTWC and IOTWS.
National System: At this level, a country has its local network. Therefore, the country can warn its citizens before a local earthquake or tsunami strikes their region. Some countries with excellent regional ETWS are Japan and India.
Local System: This is the lowest level of the system. The scope of this system is only a city or a small region.
Tools to Distribute Earthquake and Tsunami Warnings
Authorities can use several tools to distribute earthquake and tsunami warning messages. Many countries still use sirens in the tsunami early warning system.
They usually also combine the sirens with radios, SMS broadcasters, and cell broadcasters. Among these tools, cell broadcasters offer more advantages.
Cell broadcasters allow authorities to send warning messages to cellphone users without operators, credit, and internet connection. Therefore, authorities can send messages even when there are troubled internet connections and cellular networks.
Advantages of Having ETWS
Many countries already have excellent earthquake and tsunami warning systems. Having this system will give them several advantages.
Minimize the Number of Victims: Messages sent by the earthquake and tsunami warning system allow people to protect themselves from danger. Therefore, there will be fewer victims caused by the disaster.
Psychological Preparedness: Messages sent by the ETWS also help people to have psychological preparedness. These messages typically contain instructions on what to do. Consequently, recipients can follow these instructions and calm themselves.
Activation of Emergency Plans: After getting the warnings, authorities, companies, government agencies, and other parties can activate their emergency plans. As a result, damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami will be less severe.
A Powerful Tool for ETWS
An effective tsunami and earthquake warning system requires a powerful tool. Without this tool, authorities cannot disseminate warnings to as many people as possible. Consequently, there will be more victims caused by the earthquake or the tsunami.
To have this powerful tool, authorities must work with Hitech. This company has many products designed for mass alerting. One of them is a powerful tool for disseminating earthquake and tsunami early warning messages.
This tool allows authorities to get earthquake and tsunami warnings from the warning centers. Moreover, it also helps them to disseminate warnings to thousands of people within its radius.
The tool has the ability to work at an excellent speed. Therefore, it takes only seconds to distribute the information. In some cases, this powerful tool can disseminate the warning message minutes before the tsunami strikes.
However, in other cases, it distributes the warning only seconds before the earthquake. The time interval between the warning and the disaster depends on several factors, such as the distance of the earthquake epicenter from the location.
The earthquake tsunami warning system is vital in minimizing damage and life loss. Therefore, government agencies, companies, and other authorities must have this system. To have an excellent and powerful earthquake and tsunami warning system, you can contact at smsbroadcaster.com.
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