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When Seconds Count: Protecting Airports with Earthquake Early Warning Systems

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  • Truska, Tyler
  • Gunay, Selim PhD
  • Cohen, Adam
  • Kharobo, Atiila Joselyn Birah
  • Liu, Yati
  • Hansen, Mark PhD

Abstract

Airports play a critical role in emergency response and disaster recovery, yet are highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Past earthquakes in California, including the 1989 Loma Prieta, 1994 Northridge, and 2014 South Napa events, caused infrastructure damage, power outages, and operational delays at airports, affecting both safety and mobility. As seismic risk remains high across the state, improving airport resilience is critical to maintaining transportation access and supporting emergency operations.Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) systems offer a way to reduce these risks by providing seconds to tens of seconds of advance notice before strong shaking begins. While this technology has been around for several decades across the world, the development of the ShakeAlert system has brought it to the West Coast recently, giving airports in the region the chance to be early adopters of the technology in the United States. To better understand how EEW could be used in airport settings, we examined its operational applications, benefits, and implementation challenges across different types of airports.

Suggested Citation

  • Truska, Tyler & Gunay, Selim PhD & Cohen, Adam & Kharobo, Atiila Joselyn Birah & Liu, Yati & Hansen, Mark PhD, 2026. "When Seconds Count: Protecting Airports with Earthquake Early Warning Systems," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt1gr9k6hv, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt1gr9k6hv
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