A 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck near Santa Clarita Saturday night. That quake is a big deal for the Earthquake Early Warning System. Ted Chen reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015.
An earthquake early warning system succeeded in predicting Saturday night's 4.2 magnitude tremor in Santa Clarita.
However the people of SoCal will have to wait to reap any benefits as the program is still in its early stages, with the earliest estimates for its activation set for almost two years away.
Caltech Seismological Engineer Dr. Thomas Heaton was at home in Pasadena on Saturday, and got an early warning alert, giving him seven seconds to prepare.
"I sat down so i could enjoy the shaking it told me it would be light shaking," Dr. Heaton said.
In fact it was not strong enough for him to feel it, but it did prove the system is working and improving.
The hope is that Californians can eventually get up to a minute of warning before a big quake, with Dr. Heaton insisting it could make a significant difference.
“(It will let you) take your elevator to the closest floor, and let you out and open fire doors, alert children in schoolrooms, alert transportation systems
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Right now Dr. Heaton and Caltech are among the few to get alerts, as the early warning system is still in its early stages.
Congress recently allotted $5m to fund it, but Dr. Heaton says it needs at least $16m per year. With adequate funding he claims the system could be working fully in less than two years
"They're already done in Japan it's really time to get serious about it and do it here in California," Dr. Heaton said, "It's actually been very quiet in California and it's hard to get people to think about earthquakes unless they're happening."
