¡Alerta!: Engineering on Shaky Ground

A lively account of a controversial technology developed to mitigate earthquake risk and change how we live with threatening environments.

The Sistema de Alerta Sísmica Mexicano is the world’s oldest public earthquake early warning system. Given the unpredictability of earthquakes, the technology was designed to give the people of Mexico City more than a minute to prepare before the next big quake hits. How does this kind of environmental monitoring technology get built in the first place? H...