Use laptop to alert earthquakes

Elizabeth Cochrah, an earth scientist working at the University of California (USA), suggested the idea of ​​turning a laptop with accelerometer into an earthquake disaster warning tool.

Accordingly, each laptop will be fitted with an accelerometer that can sense motion like the built-in sensor of the iPhone, the handle of the Nintendo Wii console .

The accelerometer will record the vibration of the device and send information to a center for processing. If the server receives a signal from multiple locations at the same time, the center will issue a warning about the disaster.

Mrs. Cochrah completed Quake Catcher, an earthquake signaling software on laptops with accelerometer integration.

Quake Catcher software works on desktop computers.

Elizabeth Cochrah presented the idea to elementary school students.

Mrs. Cochrah hopes, if there are more than 1,000 people, from students, students, office workers . all use such laptops, the warning will reach a certain level of reliability.

The condition for collecting information is that the laptop owner must register with the signal receiving center and leave the device in online mode. For those who do not use a computer with sensors available, you can buy an accelerometer at a price of about $ 50, connecting to a laptop via USB.

This idea came to Cochrah since she saw a close friend playing Seimac games on a McBook.

Recently, a series of earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Taiwan, Turkey . caused psychological panic for people in geologically unstable areas, including California.