The importance of real-time sharing of seismic data from stations all around the Mediterranean as an effective earthquake and tsunami early-warning system was highlighted by Maltese delegates at the annual meeting of the Reduction of Earthquake Losses in the Eastern Mediterranean Region programme held recently in Malaga, Spain, by Unesco and the US Geological Survey.
Matthew Agius and Sebastiano D’Amico, researchers at the SMRU of the University’s Physics Department, stressed that the international exchange of seismic data is essential for small island nations such as Malta, especially when felt earthquakes happen in Greece, Italy and Libya. Malta has been sharing its data since the mid-1990s, together with other countries in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
The workshop, which has been hosted in Malta in previous years, helps maintain dialogue and knowledge transfer between Mediterranean and Middle East countries.