State disaster management dept and IIT, Roorkee, developed the system
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE / Dehradun
The State Disaster Management department, in collaboration with IIT Roorkee, has developed a system to alert people a little ahead of impending earthquakes. Under this system, the people will be alerted 15 to 30 seconds in advance through the BhuDev app and siren. The system operates by detecting the release of its initial waves before the secondary waves which prove fatal arrive and it will help the people to stay out of the harm’s way. The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami urged the people to upload the early earthquake warning app on their mobile phones at the earliest.
Speaking on this system, a professor of the Department of Earth Sciences, IIT, Roorkee, Kamal said that they had developed the system after the State government in 2017 had entrusted the institute with the task of finding out how people could be protected from the harmful effects of earthquakes. “This is how Bhudev App has been developed,” he said.
“A total 169 sensors and 112 sirens have been installed at different places across the State. In the event of an earthquake, it emits two types of waves – primary and secondary. Though the former is faster the latter is fatal. The system will catch the former and warn people before the latter arrives,” he said.
He further said that this app which can be downloaded through Play store and App store operates within the limits of the State. “Besides, warning will be given only when the magnitude of the earthquake is more than 5 on Richter scale,” he said.
While 169 sensors and 112 sirens have been installed in the State the Disaster Management department has planned to increase their numbers to 500 and 1000 respectively. It will cost over Rs 150 crores and a proposal has been sent to the National Disaster Management Authority in this matter.
