Building an Earthquake Warning and Monitoring System

Anmol Agrawal, a UX/UI designer and full-stack developer, shares his journey in building an earthquake warning system inspired by the 2011 Japan tsunami. Initially unaware of how to construct such a system, Agrawal began by sourcing seismic data from meteorological websites, specifically for India, but faced challenges due to a lack of real-time data APIs. Motivated by the effectiveness of a similar system in California, which provided warnings seconds before an earthquake, Agrawal decided to replicate it using littleBits, Ruby, and PubNub. His final approach involved setting up a circuit with an LED as a warning signal, utilizing the Dino gem for hardware integration, and configuring PubNub to handle message publishing and subscribing. The system continuously monitors seismic activity and triggers an alert when the magnitude surpasses a specified threshold. Agrawal's project culminated in a comprehensive earthquake warning and monitoring system, highlighting the potential for technology to save lives.