News from the Oregon Hazards Lab

New wildfire detection cameras from the University of Oregon’s Oregon Hazards Lab are helping firefighters and community members spot wildfires in real-time.

The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System is coming to the Pacific Northwest. Alerts will be available to all cell phones in Oregon starting on March 11, 2021. Alerts can give people critical moments ranging from seconds to tens of seconds to prepare for shaking, depending on their distance from the earthquake’s epicenter.

The U.S. Geologic Survey announced $1.6 million in federal funding toward Oregon’s efforts to continue upgrading its portion of the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System. With the funds, the Oregon Hazards Lab at the University of Oregon will finish installing new seismic monitoring stations on the Southern and Central Oregon coast.

The Oregon Hazards Lab at the University of Oregon will receive another round of federal funding — worth about $400,000 — to continue their research into earthquake early warning systems.

A recent boost in federal funding will move the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System closer to completion. ShakeAlert is being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and researchers at the University of Oregon, University of Washington, California Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley.