How the Quake-Catcher Network monitors earthquakes

As well as being destructive and deadly, earthquakes are also very unpredictable. However, new methods for providing early warning systems are being developed.

The Quake-Catcher Network is a worldwide initiative that aims to develop the world’s largest strong-motion seismic network in order to provide better understanding of earthquakes and give early warning to schools, emergency response systems, and others. They provide people with low-cost motion sensors that can detect seismic activity and attach to internet-connected computers to send data back to the QCN servers.

Here’s how it works…

You can also discover how the Quake-Catcher Network responds to an earthquake here:

To find out more about earthquakes, including how we monitor and prepare for them, look out for issue 67 of How It Works magazine, on sale 4th December 2014.