Americas News
Earthquake causes panic in Bogota
May 24, 2008, 20:41 GMT
Bogota - A 5.5 magnitude earthquake caused panic amid thousands of residents in the Colombian capital, Bogota, on Saturday.
There were no immediate reports of large-scale damages or injuries from the quake, with an epicentre some 55 kilometres south-east of Bogota. Several buildings suffered cracks and telephone service was interrupted, Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said.
In Bogota and nearby cities in central Colombia, residents ran outside as the earth shook. The earthquake occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 4 kilometres, making its effects more easily felt, authorities said.
President Alvaro Uribe was surprised by the quake at a meeting in the city of Florida in the south-western Valle del Cauca province, and the gathering was interrupted, reports said.
Colombia lies in a region prone to earthquakes, where the Nazca plate and the South American plate come together. In 1999, 1,200 people died in a quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale.
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Juergen PrzybylakMay 27th, 2008 - 08:58:31
Dear Sir and Madam,
We have developed this early earthquake warning and security device for private homes, schools, hospitals, small village warning, apartments, hotels, skyscrapers and industry market. This system can warn the people in the endangered regions on time before an earthquake comes and shut off all systems. The function ability was tested positively in extensive tests at the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam.
We have projects in 10 countries. In Chile, Greece (City Hall), in Turkey (Consulate of Czech Republic in Istanbul), Hilton Hotel Istanbul), in Indonesia (Banda Ache), in Iran, in Afghanistan (Office of German Agro Action), in Pakistan (Hospital Kashmir), in Peru (private houses), in San Salvador (2 German schools), in USA and also in Germany (QVC-building).
There was an earthquake in Guatemala with a Magnitude of 6.1 on 14th of April 2008.
Our installed system in the German School in El Salvador is around 140km away from the EPI centre. The intensity was like 6 (EMS-98) in the city of El Salvador. The warning time was around 20-30 seconds before the S-wave reaches the building.
Our system is an indispensable component of the modern building management in all vulnerable to seismic shock countries today. We can also connect our system in your building management system.
The product has won the idea price 'W.I.N. AWARD 2006' as the best product innovation 2006 in Germany.
Enclosed some information:
Our sensors record the harmless P wave. About electronics the wave is analyzed and evaluated in fraction of a second. If the swelling value (the intensity at the building) should be higher than the value demanded by the scientists, the system will give alarm. Different switching processes can be started over an energy management. In this way, for instance, it is possible to
give alarm before
shut off gas and electricity supplies
shut off the water supply
activate emergency power generators
park elevators
open safety doors and gates
traffic lights in front of bridges and tunnels
control railway signal installations
run data back-up programs
Overall, the energy management system is able to control up to a maximum of 8 different electronically operated energy systems and building installations.
The sensor can over a display with 8 differently swelling values (depend for the intensity of an earthquake where at the local place the system is installed) be adjusted according to the structure of the building.
For an additional safety the system can be executed redundantly against false alarms. It is dependent how many people I will warn (single house = 1 detector and for example a 30 apartments building = 2 - 3 detectors). The sensors can be connected to a network with each other in a 'Master/ Slave' up to 16 detectors relation.
Do you need more information? Please contact me.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best Regards,
Juergen Przybylak
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