[LINK] Wobbling cyber chair only earthquake warning

[Tom Worthington]

While I had given a talk to a earthquake warning center a few days ago,
the only warning that an earthquake was happening here in Greece was
when the chair I was sitting on started to wobble. At the time I was in
Athens, using a computer in the cyber-cafe of the hotel I am staying at.

The chair I was sitting on seemed to be wobbling from side to side.
Given it was made of solid steel, after a few seconds I realised we must
be having an earthquake. This lasted a few seconds and as there was no
damage, I thought no more about it. It was only later that I saw media
reports of the earthquake killing two south west of Athens.

In my seminar to the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research
Institute, Turkey, on Internet based systems for emergency warning.I
warned that t6he region is at risk as the Mediterranean and connected
Seas Tsunami Warning System is still under construction. It is fortunate
that the Greek earthquake did not involve a tsunami.

It is actually possible to issue a warning of earthquakes, but only a
few seconds in advance. Such warnings are still useful, sent out
electronically to switch off equipment automatically, which might
otherwise be damaged or cause injury.

---
    ATHENS: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 rattled
    southern Greece on Sunday, killing two people, injuring dozens more
    and damaging scores of homes, officials said.

    The earthquake, which struck at 3:25 p.m., was centered near the
    northern Peloponnesian city of Patras, about 120 miles west of
    Athens, officials said. Much of the damage occurred around
    Andravida, about 40 miles southwest of Patras.

    The Greek interior minister, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, said a
    43-year-old man was killed by a falling roof in a village near
    Andravida. Another man died of a heart attack while being taken to a
    hospital for treatment of injuries, Pavlopoulos said.

    At least four people were treated for leg injuries after leaping
    from the upper floors of their shaking homes, said Panayiotis
    Efstathiou, a regional health official. ...

    From: Earthquake kills 2 in southern Greece, International Herald
    Tribune, June 9, 2008
    <http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/09/europe/09greece.php>

See also:

Wireless Internet for Emergencies, For the Kandilli Observatory and
Earthquake Research Institute, Bogazici University, Turkey, 15:30 23 May
2008: <http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/emergency_management/>
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-- 
  Tom Worthington FACS HLM
  PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia
  http://www.tomw.net.au