San Fransisco Bay area train company installs early warning system

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area, is the first transit system in the USA to install a seismic early-warning system. Similar systems are already in use in Japan and Mexico City.

"We think of earthquake prediction as being the Holy Grail, but given that we cannot predict earthquakes and may never be able to, this is the next best thing," said Richard Allen, director of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, where the system was developed. "It allows people to react and put themselves in a safe place before the shaking starts."