EDITORIAL: Shake up Trump budget; restore earthquake early warning system funding
It's embarrassing.
We're talking about saving lives in a disaster we know is inevitable. Seismologists say there is a 72 percent probability of an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater in the
We know what damage that could do. A total of 63 people died and 650 people were injured during the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, which caused an estimated
With an alert system,
But Trump isn't interested. He's more fixated on his wall while, ironically, it's
As a result,
The warning system sent out text messages to millions of Japanese people and private businesses within seconds. That gave Japanese officials enough time to slow or stop high-speed rail trains. Japanese officials estimate that the warning system has already paid for itself many times over in reduced damage costs.
The money would pay to fully outfit 1,500 stations with seismic sensors needed to provide coverage up and down the
The
Eventually, the alerts would be made available to third-party app providers, who would be responsible for developing software needed to send warnings to websites and smart phones.
It won't stop the devastation, but it will save lives.
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