See how Haryana Government takes a lead to install India’s first early Earthquake Warning System in NCR!

As part of its disaster management plan Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) has taken a lead in Delhi/NCR in installing an Onsite Early Earthquake Warning System at its premises. The first-of-its-kind technology will be inaugurated and demonstrated by the Captain Abhimanyu Singh, Hon. Minister for Finance, and Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Haryana in the presence of SP Gupta, DG, HIPA at HIPA Complex on July 18, 2016. Juegan Przybylak, Managing Director, Secty Electronics GmbH and Bijender Goel, MD, Terra Techcom will also be present on this occasion. The live demonstration will showcase application of the technology by creating artificial earthquake waves. “Honorable Chief Minister Shri Manohar Lal Khattar has been quite proactive to implement world-class international technology in the area of disaster management. As Gurgaon, Delhi and most parts of South Haryana fall in Seismic Zone 4, Chief Minister was willing to implement the technology in the area,” says SP Gupta, Director General, HIPA. Early Earthquake Warning and Security System, introduced by the German firm, Secty Electronics in collaboration with GFZ, has been brought to India by their Indian partners, Terra Techcom Pvt. Ltd. The technology is installed on foundation pillars of a building, after measuring and studying the layout of the building. The system is capable of detecting the intensity of an earthquake and differentiating between primary waves and secondary waves. The technology alerts as soon as the primary waves strike an area so that people get some time before secondary waves (actual earthquake) hits the area. “It took GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences), 100 years of study, research and data collection to develop an algorithm to give early earthquake warnings. The algorithm has been programmed into software by Secty Electronics GmbH. We are glad to introduce the technology in India,” says Juergen Przybylak, Managing Director, secty electronics. Talking about the technology, Dr Chandan Ghosh, Head of the Geo-Hazard Risk Management Division from National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), says, “It is the only technology available in the world to differentiate Primary waves and Secondary waves in case of an earthquake. There is no technology to predict the earthquake. However, with the help of this technology, we get early warning in case of an earthquake, which can save thousands of lives and property worth million of rupees. Moreover, the technology has already been tested in various countries including Germany, US, India and many more.” Interestingly, the technology installed in Gurgaon can help Delhi to a great extent. “Gurgaon is close to Sohna faultline. If earthquake strikes the area, Delhi, located about 40 kilometers away from Gurgaon, can get warning a few seconds before the earthquake strikes the national capital,” says Dr Ghosh. “This is much needed technology in India, especially in areas that are at high risk seismic zones. If Kathmandu city residents and people of Bihar knew that this 7.8 earthquake is rippling towards their homes and any such Early Earthquake Warning and Security System exists that could to tell people that an earthquake is on the way, thousands of lives could have been saved today,” says Bijender Goel, Managing Director, Terra Techcom. He further adds, "This is a historic moment for India for taking a lead in ensuring the safety of its people. I congratulate the government of India and the team of HIPA for setting an example to follow for 100 countries of the world which do not have any safety provision against this natural disaster." Besides raising alarm to warn people before earthquake strikes, it also shuts down gas pipeline, park elevator at safest position, switches off electricity supply and put it on power back up, shut off water supply, saves crucial data, open emergency exits among many other safety measures. It is the world’s only early earthquake warning system that can even be connected to the Building Management System. The technology has its applications in government establishments, dams, bridges/ national highways, tunnels, airbases, chemical plants, highly sensitive laboratories / installations, nuclear / power stations, multi-storey buildings, shopping malls, cinemas, metro railways, urban / rural areas etc. The most immediate warning time of the system was 30 seconds in Chile 2010. The device has not given any false alarm since its first installation in 2006. The technology has also won "WIN Award" of United Kingdom for best innovation product in 2006. No false alarm has been given by the system since 2006 of its first installation. About the Technology The technology is patented in 5 countries namely USA, Japan, European Union, Turkey and Iran, and has been developed in collaboration with German Geo Research Centre (GFZ), Potsdam, Germany. It has been successfully tested internationally by many reputed institutes including Sharif University of Tehran (Iran) and National Observatory of Athens (Greece), Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung BAM (Germany), TUV Rheinland (Germany) and recently tested in India too by CSIR- Structural Engineering Research Center (SERC), Chennai.  The system is successfully working in 26 countries India, USA, Germany, Chile, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, China, Mexico etc. and proved itself by saving the life of hundreds of people. List of prestigious clients includes Audi, Goodyear, Ford, Bosch, Honeywell, Hilton, Siemens, Schindler, Bayer, Continental Group of Hotels and foreign governments.