No casualties in the 4.5-magnitude Lushan earthquake in Ya'an, Sichuan, and the TV earthquake warning has attracted much attention

At 15:57 on May 2, a 4.5-magnitude earthquake occurred in Lushan, Ya'an, Sichuan Province. At present, judging from the earthquake disaster loss assessment system of the Ya'an Earthquake Prevention and Disaster Reduction Service Center, there are no casualties and no direct economic losses. Before the earthquake, the "Continental Earthquake Early Warning Network" jointly built by the Chengdu High-tech Disaster Reduction Research Institute and the emergency management department successfully warned of the earthquake and simultaneously issued earthquake early warning information to the government, communities, schools, televisions, mobile phones, etc. 109 schools in four cities (prefectures) including Ya'an, Chengdu, Meishan, and Aba issued early warnings from 0 to 23 seconds in advance.

Image source: Screenshot of China Earthquake Networks Center's rapid report Weibo

A short video on the Internet also attracted a lot of attention from netizens. On the afternoon of May 2, a netizen was shopping in a mall in Ya'an City. Suddenly, every TV in the Skyworth TV counter next to him issued a sharp alarm. The TV screen also displayed the warning information of the 4.5-magnitude Lushan earthquake in Sichuan. The warning content included the epicenter, earthquake level, and the estimated time when the earthquake wave would arrive in the area.

Image source: A photo taken by a netizen in Ya'an showing earthquake warning information on a Skyworth TV screen

After taking the video, the netizen quickly evacuated to a safe area and felt a slight tremor. He then uploaded the video he shot to the social platform, which attracted the attention and discussion of netizens, who said that their Skyworth TVs also sounded alarms and displayed earthquake warning information when the earthquake occurred.

It turns out that Skyworth TV has already opened the radio and television earthquake early warning service. When an earthquake occurs, the "Mainland Earthquake Early Warning Network" will simultaneously send earthquake early warning information to the government, communities, schools, televisions, mobile phones, etc. Terminals that reach the intensity threshold will issue earthquake early warning alarms or prompts, and terminals that do not reach the intensity threshold will not issue earthquake early warnings as required.

Such early warning mechanisms and capabilities also became the focus of netizens' attention after the earthquake. According to relevant reports, Southwest University for Nationalities started the countdown 8 seconds before the earthquake was expected to arrive, and issued an alarm and made safety tips for escape. A student also said that he felt a slight tremor after the countdown ended.

It is reported that China's earthquake early warning technology is currently at the world's leading level. Among them, the "Mainland Earthquake Early Warning Network" covers an area of ​​2.2 million square kilometers, covering 90% of the population in China's earthquake-prone areas. At the same time, through cooperation with terminal manufacturers such as Skyworth, earthquake early warning information can be delivered to users in a timely manner to reduce disaster losses. So far, 50 destructive earthquakes have been successfully warned, including the Lushan 7.0 earthquake, the Ludian 6.5 earthquake, and the Jiuzhaigou 7.0 earthquake.