Thumbs up: Earthquake warning system goes live

On Oct. 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck without warning. The magnitude 6.9 quake killed 63 people, destroyed dozens of buildings in Santa Cruz, pancaked a double-decker freeway in Oakland and brought down a section of the Bay Bridge. On Wednesday, the 29th anniversary of the Loma Prieta quake, seismologists announced that the first West Coast early-warning system is ready for general use.

The ShakeAlert system, being built for California, Oregon and Washington, can detect a quake as it's occurring and send warnings that could provide several seconds to a minute for hospitals, utilities, schools, transit agencies, first responders and others to prepare - stopping trains, closing valves, pausing surgeries, opening bay doors at fire stations. Similar systems already exist in Mexico, Japan and several other quake-prone countries.

“We're making a large change from a production prototype in pilot mode to an open-for-business operational mode,” Doug Given of the U.S. Geological Survey said at a Los Angeles news conference on Wednesday. Thumbs up.

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