Uttarakhand State Earthquake Early Warning System: A Case Study of Himalayan Environment

Abstract

High seismic activity in the Himalayas and the increasing urbanization of its surrounding areas in the northern Indian region pose significant threats to both lives and properties. To mitigate the risk of seismic events, an earthquake early warning system can be used in the region. This system would be particularly beneficial to cities and towns in the mountainous and foothill regions that are located near earthquake sources. The government and the science and engineering community have re-sponded to this call by establishing the Uttarakhand State Earthquake Early Warning System (UEEWS). The system became fully operational on August 4, 2021, after being launched by the government of Uttarakhand. The UEEWS includes 170 accelerometers in the seismogenic part of the Uttarakhand region of the Himalayas. Ground motion data is transmitted to a central server through a dedicated private telecommunication network 24 hours a day, seven days a week.The system is designed to issue warnings for moderate to high-magnitude earthquakes via a mobile application installed on users' devices and sirens installed in government-owned public buildings. The UEEWS has successfully issued alerts for light earthquakes that occurred in the instrumented region and warnings for moderate earthquakes that occurred in the vicinity of the instrumented area. This paper provides an overview of the design of the UEEWS, details of the instrumentation, adaptation of attributes and their relation to earthquake parameters, the operational flow of the system, and information about the dissemination of warnings