TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM FOR SINALOA

The Sinaloa Center of the Sci- ences (CSS) in collaboration with the General Coordination of Tourism and the Mazatlan Aquarium hosted a presentation on a “Tsunami Alert System” project for the state of Sinaloa. The project was initiated in January of this year, by Dr. Juan Espinoza Luna, Engineer Jose Maria Condo Urgo, Dr. Cecillo Rebollar Bustamante and Dr. Castulo Aleja Armenta, due to great concern following the recent tsunami disaster in Indonesia. The purpose of the talk was primarily to inform the public about the project and also to solicit funds and support from the community and government. Dr. Espinoza presented the objectives and outline of the Sinaloa Tsunami Alert System project which include preventing the loss of human life, create a Sinaloan seismic Tsunami alert system, monitor the seismic activity in “real time” and according to international alarm system parameters, and finally to establish coastal risk zones and evacuation plans for those areas. These scientists monitor the seismic activity of the San Andres-Tamayo-River Fault, which lies 500 km from the coast of Sinaloa, in “real time”(time that is occurring right now). They currently work on equipment which is loaned to them and they receive data from a buoy sensor between Ibarra, Sonora and Sinaloa, as well as from a worldwide monitoring system. With such data they can generate models of tsunami possibilities, the size and force of the wave, and the regions/zones that could be affected. One of the plans for

the coast of Mazatlan, these buoys can measure any change in sea level and ocean temperature and then transmit the information instantaneously to the computer system on ground. According to Dr. Espinoza, with such instrumentation it would take 3-4 minutes to receive and analyze the size of an earthquake and whether there is a risk of a tsunami. It would take a few more minutes to contact by telephone the local authorities in the risk areas. This kind of information system and evacuation plan would create the necessary preparedness in the case of a tsunami. According to experts, it isn’t a matter of whether or not a deep sea earthquake will occur in the San Andres fault but rather when a large quake will happen. Currently Baja California is separating at the fault line at a rate of 3.5cm per year, reports Dr. Espinoza. Dr. Espinoza said that they are adapting their alert system from the expertise of the Japanese who have long dealt with tsunamis. The CSS wish to include Mazatlan as one of the information reception sites. Incredibly, there is no other project of this kind in the Northwest of Mexico- the region of the country at the greatest risk. UNAM in Mexico is the only other institution with data bases of information on the seismic activity and possible tsunami threats. With the dedication of professionals like Dr. Espinoza and his team we can be assured of advanced warning in the case of an earthquake and the possibility of a tsunami wave hitting the state of Sinaloa.