Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has been awarded $150,000 from the city’s Innovation and Performance Commission to pilot a new earthquake early warning system.
The early warning system, which will be online in 2022, will monitor for earthquake activity through the U.S. Geological Survey’s ShakeAlert, which is linked to seismic sensors. It will then issue automated alerts depending upon the anticipated severity of the earthquake as determined by computer algorithms.
At LAX, the system will automatically trigger emergency notifications to the airport terminals to alert passengers prior to an anticipated earthquake. The pilot project will also investigate the possibility of automatically shutting down the airport’s fuel hydrant system to help prevent jet fuel…