Mexico quake app sparks interest in Vancouver

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VANCOUVER(NEWS1130)- It could be enough to save lives in a major earthquake.

A Vancouver quake preparedness expert is excited about a new app introduced in Mexico City.  

The Mexican app sends an alert to your phone as soon as a tremor happens. If you’re away from the epicentre, it could give up to ten seconds warning before the shaking begins.

“If you’re fast, people can do a hundred metres in ten seconds,” suggests Jay Lewis, President of Terra Firm Earthquake Preparedness.

He believes phones are a perfect way to get the message out.

“If you were in an un-reinforced masonry building, even though generally we tell people not to try to run out of their building, but if you had a little advance warning it would make sense to get the hell out of there, ” he says.

Lewis feels there are many situations where an audible alarm on your phone could protect you.
    
“Say you were right next to a big glass trophy cabinet in a school,” says Lewis.  “You would certainly be able to move well away from that sort of thing where you could get seriously injured.”

Lewis says BC already has the systems in place to issue a warning, and a similar app could be set up here.  

“Almost every country that’s in a seismic zone have accelerometers built into networks that are located all over.  British Columbia has a system of those all over the place,” he adds.

The Blackberry app is being made available for free by Mexico City’s government.

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