As many of you know, we at John Whitford Communications have been dedicated to giving back to the communities we serve since 1982. We provide emergency communications, voice and internet, to Red Cross Disaster Centers.
Now, I am thrilled to announce a new program to provide early warning of an impending earthquake. While long range earthquake predictions are still in the future, it is now possible to give an alert of as much as 30 seconds before a major quake hits, time enough to take cover or to leave a vulnerable place.
The United States Geological Service is installing a network of seismic monitoring stations from central California south into Arizona with 400 already in place. In 5-10 years, the USGS hopes to blanket the entire west coast with these stations.
This is where we come in. Many of the stations are in very remote locations, out of cell phone or land line coverage and off the grid. Using our long experience in setting up satellite communications, we can help make this digital network happen.
We go to these out-of-the-way places and, teaming with Viasat Satellite Internet service, we do it all, build the monitoring station and linking it into the USGS net using Viasat. The units are solar powered. So far, we have installed equipment in San Diego, Santa Barbara, and SLO counties with more to come.
It was a real thrill working at the Cal Tech Headquarters in Pasadena linking all these stations together. Maybe they can get us tickets to the Rose Bowl.
When real-time earthquake monitoring and warning become a reality, we will have had a major role to play.
