Feasibility and Interest in Earthquake Early Warning Systems for Areas of Moderate Seismicity: Case Study for the Pyrenees

• Published in: Pure and applied geophysics Vol. 172; no. 9; pp. 2449 - 2465
• Main Authors: Auclair, Samuel, Goula, Xavier, Jara, Jose-Antonio, Colom, Yolanda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel Springer Basel 01.09.2015; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Assessments; Borders; Early warning systems; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earthquakes; Emergency communications systems; Feasibility; Geophysics; Geophysics/Geodesy; Risk reduction; Sciences of the Universe; Seismic activity; Seismic hazard; Seismicity; Seismology; Warning; Warning systems; Pyrenees Mountains; magnitude assessment; real-time seismology; moderate seismicity; Earthquake early warning; seismic risk; Earthquake; early warning
• ISSN: 0033-4553; 1420-9136
• DOI: 10.1007/s00024-014-0957-x

Seismic risk in areas of moderate seismicity (AMS) is a reality and destructive earthquakes may occur there. This is why stakeholders and risk managers in these areas show an increasing interest in Earthquake Early Warning Systems (EEWS) and are wondering about the possibility of equipping their territories with such systems. This question of feasibility has to be broached globally: distinguishing technical feasibility from notions of opportunity and utility, an, thus, it has to involve both scientific experts and stakeholders. Moreover, it is necessary to consider each situation specifically without any preconceptions, specifically concerning potential uses that can be made of early warnings, in particular, it is clear that when applied to AMS, the EEWS principles translate into shorter lead times than the ones expected for more seismic areas and would, consequently, require considering new ways of using early warnings. Through the experience conducted for the Pyrenees (France–Spain border) as part of the SISPyr project, this study aims at identifying responses to the potential value of EEWS as real-time seismic risk mitigation tools for AMS as well as to offer a methodological framework to guide stakeholders in their assessment of opportunities to set up EEWS.