China helps Cuba modernize quake warning system

China helps Cuba modernize quake warning system
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-08 11:00

HAVANA - Chinese experts in Cuba have concluded the assembly and launch
of a new earthquake warning system that helps strengthen Cuba's
seismological service, the National Center for Seismological Research
(CENAIS) said Thursday.

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Equipment used for the new warning system includes highly sensitive
seismometers, accelerometers, radio facilities for voice communication
and mobile stations for earthquake engineering studies, CENAIS director
O'Leary Gonzalez Matos said.

The work facilitates the upgrading of broadband stations capable of
monitoring the occurrence of earthquakes of any magnitude in Cuba or
anywhere else in the world, Gonzalez Matos said during the Fourth Cuban
Convention of Earth Sciences, Geosciences 2011 in Havana.

The purpose is "to have modern technology to provide faster and better
information before the occurrence of earthquakes," he said.

The renewal of the screening and monitoring services ensures that alert
signals can be transmitted in real time through an interconnectivity
system from the seismic stations assisting the CENAIS data processing
center.

As an example of the sensitivity of the new high-tech system, seismic
waves from last month's earthquake in Japan were recorded by the Cuban
network over six consecutive hours, he said. The new Chinese
equipment that arrived in Cuba in May 2010 also facilitates the exchange
of information with regional networks and enhances fundamental
seismological research, including that related to the planet's internal
structure in different places of the world, Gonzalez Matos said.

CENAIS, the governing body of Cuba's seismological research, is
responsible for monitoring seismic activities across the island.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2011-04/08/content_12292359.htm