The total death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria exceeded 41,000 at press time and may continue to rise as many people remain buried under the rubble. The disaster highlighted the necessity and urgency of establishing a global earthquake warning system, as it could help gain a few to tens of seconds for local residents and save tens of thousands of lives, Wang Tun, head of the Chengdu Life Care Institute. , a key earthquake early warning laboratory in Chengdu, China’s Sichuan province, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.
At press time, the death toll stood at 35,418 in Turkey and 5,800 in Syria — figures that came more than a week after the deadly earthquakes, which the World Health Organization described as the worst natural disaster in 100 years.
Wang, who developed an earthquake early warning (EEW) system in China, said the disaster is a reminder to all governments in the world that it is important to set up a global early warning network. China, with its experience in building world-leading EEWs, can share its experience and technology with the international community.
“With an early warning of a few seconds to 60 seconds, the death toll in an earthquake can be reduced by 30 percent,” Wang said, adding that if China implemented such a system before the earthquake in Wenchuan, Beichuan, a hard-hit county, an additional 31 seconds would have been provided of “lifesaving” time, which meant that the total number of deaths could be reduced by 20,000 to 30,000 and more than 20,000 heartbroken families could avoid the pain of losing family members.
The devastating Wenchuan earthquake that struck in May 2008 left more than 80,000 people dead or missing. The sad scenes of the earthquake prompted Wang to return to China to devote himself to establishing an early warning system there.
“The international community came to the aid of Wenchuan after it was rocked by an earthquake and helped with post-earthquake construction. It is time for us to help other countries and the world with a more effective, cheaper and more reliable earthquake early warning approach,” Wang said.
According to Wang, after the Wenchuan earthquake, China focused on the development of early warning technologies and set up the world’s largest earthquake early warning system, which has the highest speed and highest accuracy. It covers 90 percent of the population in earthquake-prone areas.
China’s real-time monitoring system can pick up seismic signals as soon as possible and provide early warnings issued through mobile phones, television, radio and new media. A total of 800 million televisions and mobile phones have already installed the earthquake early warning function, Wang said.
China is willing to share advanced technology with other countries, which is also in response to the UN’s call to establish global EDP systems, Wang said. China is the third country after Japan and Mexico to boast such an advanced level of earthquake warning capability.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted at the Third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in 2015, recognized the need to increase availability and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information. and assessment for people by 2030 as one of its global goals.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is very active in promoting international cooperation, exchange of scientific knowledge and capacity building for the development and implementation of early warning systems for geographic hazards, including earthquakes.
