$10.2M included in budget for earthquake early warning system

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Wednesday, May 3, 2017
$10.2M included in budget for earthquake early warning system
The budget deal includes $10.2 million to develop an earthquake early warning system for California, Oregon and Washington.

WASHINGTON (KGO) -- The House passed a $1.1 trillion budget bill on Wednesday, and the Senate is expected to sign it on Thursday.

The deal includes $10 million to develop an earthquake early warning system in California, as well as Oregon and Washington.

MORE: Bay Area earthquake tracker

That's actually more money than the program received in the last budget under President Obama.

UC Berkeley and Caltech scientists are working on the system with the USGS. It's designed to alert us anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes before an earthquake, hopefully giving time to stop trains and elevators and get to a safe place.

Several other countries, including Japan, have a similar system.

PREPARE NORCAL: Be ready for the next big earthquake

Click here for more stories about earthquakes.

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