"The state spends a fraction of what countries like Mexico and Japan spend on their systems. One reason for the lack of interest, experts say, is that California has not experienced a catastrophic quake in more than a century."
"Japan has one. So do Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey and Romania.
But California has struggled to develop and deploy an earthquake warning system that would give cities seconds of crucial time to prepare for the impact of a massive earthquake.
California is spending only a fraction of what Japan and Mexico have devoted, and scientists said the progress is so slow that they cannot say when the state might complete its own system.
Until recently, researchers were spending only about $400,000 a year developing the technology. Last year, they received a $6-million grant for work on a new prototype. But experts said it would cost about $150 million to build and $5 million a year to operate a system covering California and other quake-prone states along the Pacific.
Japan's system cost $1 billion to build and includes 1,000 GPS sensors to detect and monitor seismic waves."
Hector Becerra and Sam Allen report for the Los Angeles Times March 22, 2012.
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