Stirling Supports Quake Warnings

Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego) announced his support Monday of the state geologist’s proposal for a prototype automatic earthquake warning system.

The system would be evaluated to see if it can provide an alert to public agencies from several seconds to a minute or more before a major temblor. The evaluation would look both at the technical feasibility of such a system and its benefits to schools, fire and other agencies.

Stirling said he would introduce legislation in January to expand the geologist’s proposal into a full-scale system, similar to the one in Japan which automatically shuts down high-speed trains and gas pipelines as soon as it senses severe ground motion.