China helps build Nepal quake warning system

A Chinese disaster relief agency is helping build an earthquake early warning system (EEWS) in Nepal, less than four months after a massive quake struck China's neighbor.

The Institute of Care-life in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, is the contractor of the system that includes 120 sensors, a central facility and terminals to receive EEW messages for schools and communities.

Wang Tun, director of the Institute of Care-life, said the sensors could cover one third of Nepal.

If the system had existed at the time of the 8.1-magnitude quake that struck Nepal on April 25, people in the capital Kathmandu could have been notified 18 seconds in advance, and thousands of lives could thus have been saved, said Wang.

Nearly 9,000 people were killed and 22,000 injured in the natural disaster.

Jiba Raj Pokharel, vice chancellor of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, said he hoped that the system could be put into service soon.

China started to build its own EEWS in 2010 after the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan and the system now covers 2.1 million square km of the country.