Amid widening alarm in Taiwan about the devastation that could be caused by earthquakes, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday that Taiwan’s first undersea quake detection system would go into operation in October.
Preparations for the installation of the early warning equipment began yesterday with the laying of a 45km undersea cable off the coast of Toucheng (頭城) in Yilan County, and that phase of the project would be completed in June, the bureau said.
The cable installment is part of a project proposed by the CWB in 2007, called Marine Cable Hosted Observatory (MACHO), aiming to increase precision in pinpointing the location of earthquakes and increasing reaction efficiency.
Provided by the Central Weather Bureau
The CWB has been put in charge of the NT$400 million (US$13 million) project, which, when finished, will be able to give a warning an estimated 10 seconds faster than land-based equipment in case of earthquakes, and 10 minutes forewarning in the event of tsunamis.
Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the seismology center at the CWB, said that of the 18,000 earthquakes detected annually in Taiwan by land-based equipment at about 1,000 quake stations across the nation, more than 75 percent of detected quakes happened in the seas off the nation’s east coast.
“With the addition of the sea-bed cable-style seismograph, we will be able to increase detection efficiency by 50 percent, which would help provide better information on seismic activity” Kuo said.
Kuo said MACHO would also be able to monitor seabed volcanic activity at Turtle Island (龜山島) off the coast of Yilan County, thus affording Taiwan a greater understanding of tectonic activity around the country.
CWB Director-General Shin Tzay-chyn (辛在勤) said that if it were possible to get funding to extend the fiber-optic cables 150km out to sea (current plans only extend to 45km), forewarning for earthquakes and tsunamis would be extended to 40 seconds and 30 minutes respectively.
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