Rep. Schiff Applauds Governor Brown’s Inclusion of Funds for Earthquake Early Warning System
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) praised Governor Brown for including $10 million in his revised budget to support the implementation of the Earthquake Early Warning system in California.
“I am very pleased by Governor Brown’s decision to request $10 million in state funding for the Earthquake Early Warning system, and I look forward to additional details as to how this funding will accelerate the deployment of a robust early warning system. The federal government has provided substantial financial support already, and the state’s backing will go a long way towards having a fully functional system in place before a major quake strikes. We know the ‘big one’ is coming -- it’s just a matter of when, and the sooner we get the early warning system up and running, the better prepared we will be.”
A limited earthquake early warning system developed by Caltech, UC-Berkeley, and other west coast universities, in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey, has already been deployed in a beta testing phase and has proven that the early warning technology is sound. Congressman Schiff has been a leader on the issue in Congress, securing $5 million and $8.2 million respectively, in the Fiscal Year 2015 and Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations bills specifically for the West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System. Earlier this year, he was joined by 40 other members of Congress in urging the Appropriations Committee to continue to provide strong funding in Fiscal Year 2017.
It is estimated that the system in California will cost approximately $23 million to build out, and roughly $11 million/year for operation and maintenance.
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