The national earthquake early warning system will be adjusted to improve accuracy and public response starting September 1 this year, according to Central Weather Administration Earthquake Prediction and Forecasting Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富).
The warning mechanism was launched in 2016 with the intention of giving the public time to react before earthquakes begin in their area. The current island-wide warning conditions trigger at a predicted magnitude of 5.0 or higher on the Richter scale, with messages being sent to all areas with an estimated 4.0 or higher. The new parameters will be set at 6.5 and 3.0.
Wu said that higher magnitude earthquakes such as the 0403 Hualien earthquake earlier this year, which struck Taiwan at a 7.4, tend to continue for a longer period of time. He elaborated that they begin at a low energy intensity and build to a climax, as was the case with the recent Hualien earthquake where maximum energy release occurred 16 to 17 seconds after it had begun. If the warning conditions are lowered, the public can be alerted with more time, according to Wu.
As for whether the frequent national-level warnings will disturb residents, Wu said that based on the new conditions, warnings only will increase by about 1.4 times on average, which will improve government goals of earthquake disaster prevention.