Proposed Budget Plan Includes Cuts to Earthquake Alert System Project

213 [earthquake hats]” by Evan Blaser licensed under CC BY 2.0

Source: KQED

Trump’s proposed budget plan for 2018 will remove funding from a project that organizations and universities have been developing to help deliver early warning signals of an imminent, potentially dangerous earthquake.

Oregon, California and Washington are among the states that would be using the warning system. The warning system which is in development, “is intended at providing critical seconds of warning when an earthquake has started…allowing time for people to take cover and to slow or halt such things as critical industrial processes and transportation systems.”

Already $23 million has been invested in the project, and slashing the budget by $10 million would “stop the program,” explains seismologist Lucy Jones, former team member of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Several supporters of the project have spoken out against the proposed budget cuts, urging the importance of the program to help protect and save lives.

Read full story at: KQED

Environment, News
Environment, News