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What is an Appropriate Sensor for a Seismic Alert Function?

Now consider early warning networks and real time information systems for emergency management. Here, we are forced to place thousands of seismic instruments in heavily-populated areas, due to the extreme spatial variability of strong shaking and damage. There is no other way to collect valid data that precisely refer to the actual situation street by street.

In constructing a seismic network intended to protect a densely-populated area, we cannot avoid significant cultural noise at most sites. This noise level is often much higher than a silicon sensor´s threshold of detection. Most of the dynamic range advantage of force-balance accelerometers is wasted in such noisy environments.