(Georgia Institute of Technology: Atlanta) -- Seismologists have developed a new system that could be used to warn future populations of an impending tsunami only minutes after the initial earthquake. The system, known as RTerg, could help reduce the death toll by giving local residents valuable time to move to safer ground. The study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology appears in the March 5 edition of Geophysical Research Letters.

“We developed a system that, in real time, successfully identified the magnitude 7.8 2010 Sumatran earthquake as a rare and destructive ‘tsunami earthquake,’ says Andrew Newman, assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “Using this system, we could in the future warn local populations, thus minimizing the death toll from tsunamis.”

 …