Earthquakes can strike quickly, so just a few seconds' warning makes a difference. Andres Meira's mission is to save lives in Mexico - one of the most seismically active countries in the world - by using low-cost sensors to send tremor updates via an app. "You measure the movement of the ground where the earthquake is occurring and transmit an alert to vulnerable cities," said UK-born Meira, 39.
Earthquakes travel at 4kps, whereas internet latency in Mexico is less than half a second, so cities further away from the Pacific fault line can receive warnings of up to 90 seconds. In 2014, Meira created Grillo, a receiver to give Mexicans access to the government's early-warning signal - only to find it limited and unwieldy.
"We changed course and created our own infrastructure which would be more reliable and scalable," he says. The updated Grillo uses an accelerometer connected to a microcontroller chip, which sends the movement data to a local router. "What we're doing is applying algorithms - so it's saying, it's not a truck, it's an earthquake," said Meira. Each device costs $50 (£35), a fraction of the $20,000 traditionally spent on more conventional sensors, and incorporates a loudspeaker so it can act as an alarm.
Meira is installing the 10cm x 10cm sensors in schools, hospitals and hotels, and at press time was negotiating a contract with the government "so we can use government buildings - that is, places with reliable internet".
The Grillo app is free; in the long term, the company intends to make money by selling an enhanced version of the system to businesses which will give them the option to shut down elevators, gas pipes and generators. For Meira, though, the real aim is to bring a small measure of control to people living in seismic zones across the world. "There's a primal fear that overtakes you," he says. "Having 90 seconds allows you do something about it."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
