Science and Technology Daily reporter Sheng Li
According to the China Seismological Network Center, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 occurred near Changning County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province at 22: 55 on June 17th. After the earthquake and before the arrival of destructive seismic waves, TV screens and community broadcasts in many places in Sichuan realized the "countdown" of earthquake warning, especially in 60 communities in Chengdu High-tech Zone. 61 seconds before the earthquake struck, the short video that the warning "big horn" sounded at the same time was once "screened". What technology is used in earthquake early warning and what are its early warning channels? How do the general public receive earthquake warning? On the 18th, the reporter visited Chengdu Institute of High-tech Disaster Reduction (hereinafter referred to as the Institute for Disaster Reduction), the research and development unit of this earthquake early warning technology.
Zhang Xiao, who lives at No.123, Guixi East Road, Chengdu High-tech Zone, was a witness to the "big horn" earthquake warning in Chengdu High-tech Zone. She was preparing to rest on the night of the earthquake on the 17th, when she suddenly heard the "countdown" of the community broadcast. "The sound is particularly loud and the whole community is ringing." Zhang Xiao said that with the end of the countdown alarm, she felt obvious shaking at home. "It is certain that the police were reported first, and it only shook later."
After the earthquake, many places in Sichuan received earthquake early warning information through television, mobile phones and community broadcasts, which was released by the "Continental Earthquake Early Warning Network" jointly established by the Institute of Disaster Reduction and the emergency management department. According to the preliminary statistics of the Institute of Disaster Reduction, the mainland earthquake early warning network has issued early warnings to more than 200 schools in Yibin City and Leshan City, Sichuan Province, and 101 communities in Chengdu have also received early warnings. As for the early warning "big horn" that resounded through 60 communities in Chengdu High-tech Zone, it was jointly launched by Chengdu High-tech Zone and Disaster Reduction Institute on May 9 last year.
How does "Big Horn" realize earthquake early warning? Wang Gang, director of the Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory of Earthquake Early Warning and director of the Institute of Disaster Reduction, said that earthquake early warning is a technology that provides users with early warning for several seconds to dozens of seconds by using the principle that electric waves are faster than seismic waves after an earthquake.
As for the early warning process of the Changning earthquake, Wang Gang said that in the more than 10 years after the Wenchuan earthquake, the mainland earthquake early warning network jointly built by the Disaster Reduction Institute and the earthquake department of the emergency management department (the original city and county earthquake prevention and disaster reduction department) has covered 2.2 million square kilometers of land in China.
"In the huge area covered by this network (continental earthquake early warning network), once an earthquake occurs, earthquake early warning stations all over it can collect earthquake information and respond quickly." He said that after the earthquake, after the seismic wave propagates from underground to the special ground monitoring station of the mainland earthquake early warning network, the seismic wave summary information will be extracted by the first nearby station, and then it will be extracted by another nearby station again to complete the on-site earthquake judgment. The double-extracted seismic information will be transmitted to the early warning center located in the disaster reduction institute, and then comprehensively analyzed by the center to issue early warnings to all terminals.
After the Changning M6.0 earthquake and before the arrival of seismic waves, the warning time of Yibin City, 51km away from the epicenter, was 10 seconds, and the estimated intensity was 5.2 degrees. The early warning time for Luzhou City, which is 80 kilometers away from the epicenter, is 18 seconds, and the estimated intensity is 4.6 degrees; The early warning time for Zigong City, which is 111 kilometers away from the epicenter, is 27 seconds, and the estimated intensity is 4.1 degrees. "It can be clearly seen that the farther away from the epicenter, the longer the warning time." He said that the terminals that reached the intensity threshold in this early warning all issued earthquake early warning alarms or tips, and the terminals that did not reach the intensity threshold did not issue earthquake early warning as required.
"That is to say, after the Changning earthquake, if the intensity level of seismic waves arriving at different warning locations is lower than the preset value, the alarm will not sound, which is why some people in various places have received early warnings and some have not." Wang Wei said.
At present, the earthquake early warning methods that can be realized by the mainland earthquake early warning network include installing "early warning receiving terminal system" in schools, communities and high-risk enterprises, network early warning on mobile platforms such as mobile phones, and TV pop-up early warning. Among them, the early warning terminal system can connect loudspeakers and industrial control systems for earthquake risk control. For example, he said that the earthquake early warning emergency disposal system installed in Zone D of Tianfu Software Park in Chengdu High-tech Zone can control the elevator to realize automatic flat-floor shutdown, while high-risk chemical enterprises can realize automatic shutdown of production systems.
On the mobile side, early warning information can be published on platforms such as Weibo, WeChat and APP software. Ordinary users can download the "Earthquake Early Warning APP" developed by the Disaster Reduction Institute to realize mobile phone early warning. Finally, in terms of TV early warning, on May 27th this year, Sichuan Radio and Television Network took the lead in connecting the provincial radio and television network with the earthquake early warning network. At present, TV earthquake early warning in Sichuan has extended to 13 cities and states, covering 79 districts and counties. When an earthquake occurs, the TV will give an early warning by means of "hanging small corner pop-up window" or "large center pop-up window" in the lower right corner.
(Science and Technology Daily, Chengdu, June 18th)