Posted at 8:25 a.m., Friday, July 6, 2007
Japan's new tsunami system quick on alert updates
The Yomiuri Shimbun
TOKYO — Japan's Meteorological Agency this week introduced a new tsunami information system that can update warnings more quickly and accurately than the previous system, agency officials said.At its fastest, the new system can upgrade a tsunami caution to a tsunami warning or cancel it altogether in a matter of up to 30 minutes from the time the initial report has been issued, thanks to a new computer program.
It is expected that by using the system a local government can speed up procedures to alert residents about tsunami or to tell them the danger has passed and that it is safe for them to return to their homes.
The new system needs only 10 to 20 minutes to accurately calculate the scale and the direction of the movement of a fault after an earthquake.
It will quicken the procedures such as upgrading a tsunami caution issued right after the quake to a tsunami warning if the scale of the quake turns out to be larger than initially speculated, or calling off the caution when the movement of the fault is horizontal and is unlikely to cause tsunami.
Under the new system, the pattern nearest to the conditions of the quake in question is chosen from 100,000 types of tsunami data. Next year, the number of tsunami data will be increased to 240,000 so that the prediction will be even more accurate.
