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Proposal of a simple seismic early warning system for Algeria

Author:
[ Belazougui ] - Centre National de Recherche Appliquée en Génie Parasismique (CGS), Algiers

Abstract:

Algeria is periodically stricken by seismic events that could trigger important human and material losses such as the "21st May, 2003 Boumerdes Earthquake" which resulted in more than 2300 dead and 10 000 injured people and more than 3 billions US Dollars of da-mage. In addition to traditional countermeasures for seismic risk reduction, it appears for us of great importance to set up and implement an early (rapid) warning system for the case of damaging earthquake striking in the seismic prone areas of the country. It is expected from such a system to help for mobilizing very quickly the adapted relief and rescue means at local , regional and national levels, so that the human losses could be reduced and the recovery accelerated in the region hit by an earthquake. In this system, 3 warning levels dealing with local, regional and national mobilizations are respectively proposed; they depend only on 2 parameters, population density representing the potential vulnerability in the epicentral region and its surroundings, and the level of magnitude. they are inferred from a matrix of 16 boxes with 4 horizontal entrances for ranges of population densities and 4 vertical entrances for ranges of magnitudes. To illustrate the system, 4 maps of warning levels are presented, each one corresponding to a given range of magnitudes. Naturally the system has to be completed by more precise geodetic coordinates and a computerized model that could give automatically the level of warning immediately after the national seismological observatory give the main and necessary parameters of the warning: date, time, magnitude and geodetic coordinates of the epicenter. The system is expected to be improved later by introducing new parameters of influence as the deepness of hypocenter or the variability of regional vulnerability, and periodically updated .

Keywords:

Algerian Earthquakes, Early Warning, Seismic Risk, Disaster Management.