Home to one of the most diverse socioeconomic and geographic landscapes, California is also at risk of a major earthquake every day. While no one can reliably predict earthquakes, technologies do exist to rapidly detect seismic waves as earthquakes initiate. Today, experts from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) went before a joint informational Legislative hearing of the Committees on Governmental Organizations to discuss the future of an operational earthquake early warning (EEW) system.

The hearing, “California’s Earthquake Preparedness: Status of the Earthquake Early Warning System,” included testimony from the state’s leading emergency managers and planners, as well as nationally recognized earthquake scientists.

“There’s no doubt that we have the best minds in the state, in the country working on this system,” said Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci. “I learned early on that we couldn’t just pick up the Japanese model…