Quake-Awake Early Warning Earthquake Alarm

Around 1990, my friend Mitch Bennof introduced me to Ken Calait, who produced some of the most successful records in history, including 5 Fleetwood Mac albums.

He was an entrepreneurial kind of guy, and had several vetures which he felt I could help him with, including QuakeAwake and Spherical Sound.

Ken and a partner had devised an earthquake alarm that needed a redesign.

It was an interesting project and really did have some value.  The trick is that earthquakes take place many miles below the surface, and generate two kinds of waves in the earth:  P-waves and S-waves.  The P-waves are longitudinal waves that travel through the solid rock of the earch.

The S-waves are transverse waves generated by the movement of the Earth's surface.

The P-waves travel faster than the S-waves, and therefore detecgting the P-waves can give you as mch as 30 seconds warning before the ground moves.