Fast and robust inversion of earthquake source rupture process and its application to earthquake emergency response

Fast inversion of source rupture process for significant earthquake is introduced and applied to earthquake emergency response. We retrieve and use the apparent source time functions （ASTFs） to stabilize the rupture process inversion, aiming to get the rupture process results correctly and quickly. The applications to 22 significant earthquakes occurred between January 2009 and July 2011 show an average inversion time consumed of about four hours, suggesting a high efficiency of this method, which much improves the inversion speed of the rupture process and is helpful in earthquake disaster mitigation and relief.

Key technologies of earthquake early warning system for China’s high-speed railway

Purpose–The purpose of this study is to introduce the top-level design ideas and the overall architecture of earthquake early-warning system for high speed railways in China,which is based on P-wave earthquake early-warning and multiple ways of rapid treatment.Design/methodology/approach–The paper describes the key technologies that are involved in the development of the system,such as P-wave identification and earthquake early-warning,multi-source seismic information fusion and earthquake emergency treatment technologies.The paper also presents the test results of the system,which show that it has complete functions and its major performance indicators meet the design requirements.Findings–The study demonstrates that the high speed railways earthquake early-warning system serves as an important technical tool for high speed railways to cope with the threat of earthquake to the operation safety.The key technical indicators of the system have excellent performance:The first report time of the P-wave is less than three seconds.From the first arrival of P-wave to the beginning of train braking,the total delay of onboard emergency treatment is 3.63 seconds under 95%probability.The average total delay for power failures triggered by substations is 3.3 seconds.Originality/value–The paper provides a valuable reference for the research and development of earthquake early-warning system for high speed railways in other countries and regions.It also contributes to the earthquake prevention and disaster reduction efforts.

Evaluation of Earthquake Emergency Plan Based on SD Model

Based on the system dynamics(SD) model, this paper puts forward a quantitative method to evaluate the earthquake emergency plan in China. Firstly, we analyze the disaster system structure and the content of plan. Using the analysis results, we establish a system dynamics(SD) model and then carry out its simulation. According to the simulation results, the rescue effect using the plan of 2012 is better than that of 2006. From the policy level, in order to reduce loss, government should maintain communication smoothly, improve the ability of self and mutual help, strengthen the management of public opinion, and pay more attention to secondary disasters.

Fast inversion of rupture process of the 14 April 2010 Yushu,Qinghai,earthquake

Four results of the rupture process of 14 April 2010 Yushu, Qinghai, earthquake, obtained by inverting the broadband seismic data of Global Seismographic Network （GSN） based on the inversion method of earthquake rupture process, were compared and discussed. It is found that the Yushu earthquake has several basic characteristics as follows： 1 There exist two principal sub-events which correspond to two slip-concentrated patches being located near the hypocenter and to the southeast of the epicenter. The rupture of the slip-concentrated patch to the southeast of the epicenter broke though the ground surface; 2 The peak slip and peak slip-rate are about 2.1 m and 1.1 m/s, respectively, indicating that the Yushu earthquake is an event with large slip-rate on the fault plane; 3 Overall the Yushu earthquake is a unilateral rupture event with the rupture mainly propagating southeastward. The strong focusing of the seismic energy in the southeast of the epicenter due to the ＂seismic Doppler effect＂ reasonably accounts for the tremendous damage in the Yushu city.

Location correction technique based on mobile communication base station for earthquake population heat map

China has mobile phone penetration rate of over 96.2%.Mobile phone has become the largest Internet terminal for Chinese Internet users.Population geographic distribution in earthquake zones can be got based on mobile phone positioning and map matching.For reducing earthquake black-box stage,we propose a real-time collection,correction and schedule algorithm of population position data by four stream processing environments(Redis,Hbase,Kafka,and Spark Streaming)in this paper.For labeling precisely population geographic distribution on the network map,matching of population geographic coordinates and map coordinates are optimized by sample comparison based on location data of mobile communication base stations and prefecture level cities.The test result shows the proposed system is high efficient and can rapidly respond to any emerging parallel tasks during the earthquake.A high-precision heat map of affected population can be produced and published on-line within 2 min after the devastating earthquake happened.

Ideas of establishing the information system for emergence decisions on the protection against earthquakes and disaster reduction in cities (application of GIS)

ith urban reformation and opening becoming deeper,the work of protection against earthquake and disaster reduction would be more important.In this paper,some ideas are suggested about establishing the information system for emergency decisions on protection against earthquake and disaster reduction in cities .The information system mainly includes a subsystem for rapid evaluation of damage loss from earthquake (which includes input of seismic information,distribution of earthquake intensity,evaluation of seismic fragility on all social factors and etc.) and a subsystem for the decisive information of seismic emergency(which mainly includes project of disaster relief,project of personnel evacuation,dangerous degree warning for the dangerous articlesstoring places and protection measures against them,assistant decision on fire due to earthquake,location of headquarter for providing disaster relief,and etc.). It is thought that the data investigation and collection about all kinds of buildings(including lifeline engineering)are the most important and difficult work as establishing this system.

Characteristics of Seismic Damage of Buildings:Constraints from Tilt Photography Technology

In this paper,the tilt photography data acquisition and three-dimensional modeling of the Tashkurgan MS5.5 earthquake in Xinjiang are conducted using the tilt photography system of the Rotor UAV. The three-dimensional model is used to interpret the earthquake damage on buildings in the mega-earthquake area in order to acquire different-level house damage in the Kuzirun village disaster area. In addition,the characteristics of seismic damage on typical buildings are analyzed. The results show that the main collapsed houses in the mega-earthquake area are sand-stone buildings,of which about 39% are sand-stone buildings. Several brick-wood buildings and brick-concrete buildings are seriously damaged,while the buildings with frame structures are mainly slightly damaged,and the houses near the macro-epicenter of the earthquake are all in good conditions. Three-dimensional tilt photography technology can vividly display the scene of earthquake disaster,and can provide significant demonstration in building damage degree together with detailed analysis of disaster situation.

A new approach on seismic mortality estimations based on average population density

This study examines a new methodology to predict the final seismic mortality from earthquakes in China. Most studies established the association between mortality estimation and seismic intensity without considering the population density. In China, however, the data are not always available, especially when it comes to the very urgent relief situation in the disaster. And the popu- lation density varies greatly from region to region. This motivates the development of empirical models that use historical death data to provide the path to analyze the death tolls for earthquakes. The present paper employs the average population density to predict the final death tolls in earthquakes using a case-based reasoning model from realistic perspective. To validate the forecasting results, historical data from 18 large-scale earthquakes occurred in China are used to estimate the seismic morality of each case. And a typical earthquake case occurred in the northwest of Sichuan Province is employed to demonstrate the estimation of final death toll. The strength of this paper is that it provides scientific methods with overall forecast errors lower than 20 %, and opens the door for conducting final death forecasts with a qualitative and quantitative approach. Limitations and future research are also analyzed and discussed in the conclusion.