Earthquake Detection and Warning System for Automatic Cut-Off of Electricity and Gas Supply Lines for Safety Measures

Abstract

The project aims at designing an earthquake monitoring and warning system that is capable of detecting earthquakes as well as warning people to take necessary precautions. The designed system will not only try to save human lives, but will also store the data for later use by professionals working at this sector. India is a country with a high frequency of earthquakes. Since the country lies at the junction of three tectonic plates, the intensity of earthquakes felt in this region is moderate. But surprisingly, the number of deaths and financial loss in this region by earthquakes is not due to building crashes or being crushed under homes. Rather, major reasons of losses are due to indirect effects such as induction of fear, as well as fire induced from a cracked gas line or faulty electrical transmission line damaged by earthquakes. Hence, a low cost automatic microcontroller based system has been designed and implemented using low cost locally sourced electronic components, which senses earthquakes and gas leaks through accelerometer and gas sensor respectively. The microcontroller operates a relay and a motor that cuts off electricity and gas supplies respectively during the event of an earthquake, helping to prevent associated potential disasters.