SAN FRANCISCO, April 15 (UPI) -- The federal government will spend $29.4 million to upgrade the nation's earthquake detection equipment, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday.
The economic stimulus money will go to the U.S. Geological Survey. Salazar said at a news conference in San Francisco that the agency will use the money to significantly improve the timely delivery of information to high-hazard quake zones such as the Bay area.
The U.S. Geological Survey will replace old instruments -- some as old as 40 years -- with state-of-the-art systems quake-prone regions of California, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, the Intermountain West, and the Central and Eastern United States, he said.
"The timely delivery of earthquake information can mean the difference between life and death," Salazar said. "It requires critical infrastructure such as modern seismic networks and data processing centers so scientists can provide emergency responders with information to save lives and reduce economic losses. With nearly 75 million Americans living within earthquake prone areas, this investment is long overdue."
California, for example, has more than a 99 percent chance of having a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake within the next 30 years, scientists predict.
