Sun. May 22, 2016 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM Poster Hall (International Exhibition Hall HALL6)

Convener:*Fumiko Tajima(University of California at Irvine), Masumi Yamada(Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University), Hellweg Margaret(Berkeley Seismological Lab), Richard Allen(University of California Berkeley), Mitsuyuki Hoshiba(Meteorological Research Institute), Douglas Given(USGS Pasadena Field Office)

The last few decades have seen an alarming number of catastrophic earthquakes around the globe that destroyed human lives and environments. But, when asked if they are prepared for earthquake related hazards, many people would still respond "No". In Japan the nationwide Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system has provided alerts to the general public since October 2007. This system, which was developed after the 1995 Kobe earthquake disaster (Mw6.8, casualties ~6500), saved lives in the catastrophe of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Mw9, casualties ~19000 mainly due to Tsunamis). The relatively few casualties from the Mw9 earthquake are a testament to Japan's emergency systems and rigorous building codes. At the same time, there is still room for improvement with more efficient algorithms for event detection and determination. In the USA, after years of development and testing, a prototype production EEW system has been implemented along the west coast. However, before it can transition to a full public system, seismic and geodetic network improvements as well as outreach, training and technical solutions are required, to ensure that the earthquake alerts contribute to saving lives and infrastructure. The ongoing development of existing and new algorithms is also vital to ensure that the EEW system continues to improve. Other countries, i.e., Mexico, Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, China and countries in EU have been also developing EEW. This international session was organized to bring together scientists, engineers, and practitioners from a broad range of backgrounds from around the world, and to promote collaborative communication at the leading edge of the science and technologies for mitigating earthquakes and associated hazards. Contributions for effective automated processing algorithms and technologies of waveform data recorded by networks of all sizes, on-site (single station) earthquake detection and alarm systems, and related problems are welcome.