In August 2021, the earthquake that caused enormous damage in the Republic of Haitian, the details of the epicenter area and aftershock activity were quickly clarified by the data captured by the "citizen seismograph" installed in the residents' house.
More than 2,500 people were killed and more than 12,000 were injured in the quake.In Haiti, there was a large earthquake that killed an estimated 2010 people in 10, and it is a challenge to quickly and accurately grasp the situation of such a large earthquake.
Therefore, from 2019, a citizen-participation-type seismic observation social experiment project will start, led by a French research group.This initiative is an attempt to install a low-cost, easy-to-maintain seismograph called a raspberry shake at a desired citizen's house, collect observation data via the Internet, and utilize it for grasping seismic activity.
This time, an international collaborative research team consisting of institutions from France, Haiti, Peru, Japan, the United States, and Spain, in which Associate Professor Hiroshi Fukushima of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University participated, used the data from this "civil seismometer". We analyzed the earthquake in August 2021.The closest seismographs operated by the government were 8 km away from the epicenter, while there were several "citizen seismographs" within tens of kilometers from the epicenter, and the closest one was at 120 km.The analysis quickly revealed that the epicenter area of this time was far from the epicenter area of the 21 earthquake, and that aftershocks were concentrated in two areas.
Furthermore, by combining with analysis using satellite data, it was confirmed that this earthquake was accompanied by "a reverse fault slip in which the north side ground rides on the south side ground", and the earthquake hazard map. And it is assumed that important findings leading to the renewal of seismic design standards for buildings have been obtained.
It can be said that this study shows that the civil seismic observation network contributes to grasping the earthquake occurrence situation and acquiring important knowledge even in developing countries where the public observation system is inadequate.
Paper information:[Science] Citizen seismology helps decipherthe 2021 Haiti earthquake
