Sensor Network Continues to Expand, Stay Tuned for a Public App!
We’ve made great progress on expanding our sensor network since our last update. We can now provide up to twenty seconds warning to those in Christchurch for some of the more distant aftershocks near the Southern Alps. But we’re still after more sensor locations, so please drop us a line if you think you can help!
Commercial Warning Service
While we still hope to get funding for a public trial as a free service in Christchurch, we’ve realized there are more than just technical and cost issues to consider (see below). In the mean time we’ve switched from offering the service free to those performing dangerous work to charging a small fee for it.
Although people have become less skeptical of earthquake warning systems since the approximately 80 second warning provided by the Japanese system, it’s still a big issue for us. We’ve found that charging for the service has actually increased uptake – we offer penalties of generally double what we charge if we fail to warn on even just one quake within our coverage area.
So if you’re performing dangerous work around Christchurch, please get in touch!
Issues Delaying a Public Trial – Financial
When we started Roam3 back in 2009, we were looking to leverage rapid & reliable information distribution technology we’d refined in the commercial world to improve disaster warnings for civilians through the government sector. However our first Civil Defence contract had to be canceled after the September earthquake sent them over budget, forcing us to take on commercial work till their budget problems were solved.
After demonstrating our earthquake early warning (EEW) system, as well as technology for preparing people for disasters, communicating a person’s status and location after a disaster, and locating people trapped in damaged and burning buildings at the South Island Civil Defence conference in late 2010, we got a contract with Canterbury Civil Defence for developing a preparedness solution and trialing it in Canterbury.
In early 2011 the Ministry of Civil Defence asked us to submit a proposal for implementing a national preparedness and tsunami warning system. Our final meeting with Canterbury Civil Defence about replacing their contract with a national one was unfortunately scheduled for the afternoon of February the 22nd. After deploying our EEW system and getting a 3s early warning on the day of deployment, we were excited about a public trial of the warning system while aftershocks were frequent.
However apparently the State of Emergency prevented any national funding for such a trial (although Canterbury Civil Defence, Google, Telecom and Vodafone helped supply devices to rescue personal), and so we again took on commercial work while continuing to keep the system ticking over for use by those working in dangerous areas. Our last commercial cross-platform app recently hit the app store so we’re now 100% focused on EEW again.
Scientific Controversy & Legal Risk
We’ve had a lot of responses from people keen to use the system during the last few months. But we’ve also been surprised at the level of controversy within the scientific community about what can and should be done in terms of disaster warnings. We are planning to release a public survey in a few weeks in order to get more information from both experts and the general public about some of these controversies.
We also underestimated the legal risk involved with supplying a warning solution to people without a written contract. We think we can provide the solutions listed above and more at a rate of about $1 per person per year if funded at a regional or government level, and are willing to pay out significantly larger penalties upon failure.
But we can’t provide warning for an earthquake that occurs right underneath the user, and don’t want to be facing court cases when we fail to do so. In many countries including the USA there is a “Good Samaritan Law” providing legal protection to those trying to help out during disasters etc. We think New Zealand could benefit from something like this.
The Next Step
The next step for us is to submit an updated proposal to the government as well as release a public survey app. We want to try and work with the media to educate the public about what the level of risk really is in New Zealand and what issues prevent us from being warned about impending disasters. Stay tuned!
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