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A Dedicated Seismic Early Warning Network: The Mexican Seismic Alert System
(SASMEX)

Article  in  Seismological Research Letters · February 2018

DOI: 10.1785/0220170184

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E

A Dedicated Seismic Early Warning Network:

The Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX)
by Gerardo Suárez, J. M. Espinosa-Aranda, Armando Cuéllar, Gerardo
Ibarrola, Armando García, Martín Zavala, Samuel Maldonado, and
Roberto Islas
ABSTRACT
The Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX) initiated oper- (e.g., Anderson et al., 1986; Rosenblueth, 1986; Esteva, 1988).
ations in 1993. It was the first to broadcast seismic early warn- The extent of the devastation was unexpected, considering the
ings to the general population. Today, SASMEX is composed relatively long distance between this subduction zone earth-
of 97 monitoring stations that straddle practically the whole quake and the city. The reason is that the soft clays, on which
subduction zone of Mexico. The system also includes strong- Mexico City is built, produce large amplifications of the in-
motion instruments that monitor the seismicity within the coming waves that result in large and long-lasting accelerations
subducted Cocos plate. These earthquakes are located inland, of the ground (e.g., Bard et al., 1988; Kawase and Aki, 1989;
close to the major population centers of Mexico. The moni- Ordaz and Singh, 1992; Wirgin and Bard, 1996; Reinoso and
toring stations are linked to control and distribution centers Ordaz, 1999).
that receive, decode, and broadcast the alerts by a redundant The possibility of a future great earthquake to the south of
telecommunications network. The dissemination of the early Mexico City led the scientific community to propose in 1986,
warning alerts is done through low-cost radio receivers, sub- the creation of a seismic alert system (SAS) for Mexico City
scribing television and radio stations, and, in Mexico City, by (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología [CONACYT] and
the system of municipal loudspeakers installed in the streets National Research Council, 1986). The development of a seis-
throughout the city. From 1993 to 2017, the network has mic early warning system was one of the several measures taken
recorded 6896 earthquakes and has issued 158 seismic early to improve the readiness and resilience of the city to future
warnings. The more recent examples of successful seismic alerts earthquakes along the subduction zone, on the Pacific coast of
are the two earthquakes that occurred in Mexico in September Mexico. To this end, in 1991, the Centro de Instrumentación y
2017. In the case of the great Tehuantepec earthquake of 7
Registro Sísmico, A.C. (CIRES, Center for Instrumentation
September 2017 (M w 8.2), SASMEX gave almost 2 min of
and Seismic Recording) developed the SAS to warn the pop-
warning prior to the arrival of the strong-motion seismic waves
ulation of Mexico City. CIRES is a nonprofit organization.
in Mexico City. The second case was the Morelos earthquake
The government of Mexico City decided at the outset to use
of 19 September 2017 (M w 7.1). The short epicentral distance
to Mexico City of ∼120 km allowed only few seconds of warn- this legal figure to decentralize the system and offer it admin-
ing prior to the arrival of the S waves. istrative and technical autonomy, under the supervision of the
city government.
The objective was to detect and identify potentially large
earthquakes using a dedicated network of free-field strong mo-
Electronic Supplement: Table listing all the early warning alerts tion (FS) stations distributed along the coast, to warn the pop-
issued publicly by Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX) ulation of the capital city of Mexico of destructive incoming
in all the cities subscribing to the system. waves (Fig. 1). It was estimated that the time difference between
the opportune identification of an earthquake in the subduction
INTRODUCTION zone and the arrival of strong motion of the ground in the city
would give ample time to evacuate schools and low-rise build-
The 1985 earthquake was a turning point in the development ings. CIRES was mandated from the beginning to develop and
of seismology and earthquake engineering in Mexico. The manufacture its own instruments designed specifically for a seis-
morning of 19 September 1985, Mexico City woke up to a mic early warning system.
large earthquake that lasted for several minutes. The resulting In Mexico City, the system allows a warning time between
damage was unprecedented, in both human and material losses 60 and 120 s prior to the arrival of the S waves from subduction

382 Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018 doi: 10.1785/0220170184
▴ Figure 1. Distribution of Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX) strong-motion stations. The first stations installed in 1991 on the
Guerrero gap are shown as red triangles; the Oaxaca early warning network, Sistema de Alerta Sísmica de Oaxaca (SASO; blue triangles);
the stations added during the expansion of the SASMEX network in 2012 (black triangles). White circles indicate cities where the seismic
early warning system is now operational.

earthquakes. This time of opportunity allows putting in place became the first early seismic warning system worldwide to
public measures designed to reduce human losses in the city. issue alerts publicly (Lee and Espinosa-Aranda, 2003).
For example, schools conduct regular evacuation exercises to Almost 10 yrs after the disastrous earthquake of 1985, SAS
benefit from this long warning time. SAS started operations correctly identified the Copala earthquake of 14 September
in an experimental manner in 1991 and began to function for- 1995 (M w 7.3) as potentially damaging to Mexico City. An
mally as a public service to the city in 1993. Alerts would be alert was issued, giving a warning time of 70 s to the population
given out whenever two or more stations recorded ground- of Mexico City, prior to the arrival of the strong shaking. Many
motion amplitudes above M b 5.5. The system, originally called schools were promptly evacuated in a timely manner, proving
SAS, was composed of 12 strong-motion sensors distributed the usefulness and functionality of the system. A few years later,
along the southeastern end of the Guerrero gap (Fig. 1). In a damaging earthquake on 15 June 1999 (M w 6.7) caused im-
this part of the subduction zone, immediately to the south of portant damage in the state of Oaxaca, in southeastern Mexico.
Mexico City, the last earthquake with magnitude M w > 7:0 As a result, the government of Oaxaca gave CIRES the respon-
took place in 1911. Therefore, it is assumed that an important sibility to build a seismic early warning system in this region
accumulation of stress exists in this segment of the coast of (Espinosa-Aranda et al., 2009). This system became known as
Guerrero (McCann et al., 1979; Singh et al., 1981). Sistema de Alerta Sísmica de Oaxaca (SASO) (Fig. 1). SASO
On 14 May 1993, the Mexican early warning system de- and SAS were fused in 2012 to form the integrated Mexican
tected an M 6 earthquake in the subduction zone and gave an seismic early warning system called SASMEX (Cuéllar et al.,
advanced warning to Mexico City of ∼60 s, prior to the arrival 2014).
of the strong-motion seismic waves. This successful result dur- In 2010, SASMEX initiated a project to expand its cover-
ing the testing phase prompted the local authorities of the city age. From the 12 original stations commissioned in 1991 along
to disclose the early earthquake warnings publicly. Thus, SAS the southern coast of the state of Guerrero, the system now

Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018 383

covers practically the whole subduction zone. Thus, thanks the reliability of the system. For example, the 1999 Tehuacán,
to funding from the federal disaster prevention institutions Puebla, earthquake (M w 6.9) had an epicenter located ∼200 km
Fondo para la Prevención de los Desastres Naturales (FOPRE- away from the closest SAS stations. Because of the long distance
DEN) and from the government of Mexico City, 97 strong- of the epicenter to the closest SAS station, the early warning
motion stations monitor the subduction zone of Mexico, from issued did not give an effective time of opportunity. As a result
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the end of the Rivera plate of this unfavorable situation, funding allowed the expansion of
subduction zone, beneath western Mexico (Fig. 1). Additional the network in 2012. Today, SASMEX has 97 FS stations
strong-motion stations, located inland, were added to the sys- (Fig. 1).
tem. These stations monitor in-slab earthquakes that occur The FS stations consist of triaxial accelerographs and the
within the subducted Cocos plate. These earthquakes are more corresponding communications equipment. Since the begin-
infrequent than subduction events to the south, and are gen- ning, the FS instrumentation has been subjected to a continu-
erally of smaller magnitude. Nonetheless, they are also poten- ous process of technological improvement and modernization.
tially damaging not only to Mexico City but also to other The original instruments built by CIRES were digitizers with
population centers in central Mexico. 10-bit resolution and a 50-Hz sampling rate. Today, the FS
To date, SASMEX has issued 158 seismic alerts culled stations of the network have 12-bit digitizers and sample at a
from 6896 detected earthquakes (Ⓔ Table S1, available in the rate of 100 Hz. A third generation of instruments is now under
electronic supplement to this article). This article presents an final testing and ready to be deployed in the coming months.
overview of the system, its basic components, and the commu- The new digitizers will have a 24-bit resolution with an em-
nication networks that confirm it. It also reviews the perfor- bedded Linux computer sampling at 100 Hz. All of these FS
mance of the system during the past 26 yrs of operation and stations are designed and manufactured by CIRES. The seismic
evaluates the contribution that the system has made to the equipment is continuously modernized as funding permits.
strong-motion catalog of Mexico. The distribution of stations was designed considering the
unusually shallow depth of the subduction zone earthquakes.
TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEXICAN The FS stations form a front line along the Pacific coast of
EARLY WARNING SYSTEM Mexico with an average spacing of 25 km (Fig. 1). This station
spacing ensures that the S–P times are less than 3–4 s. The
According to the United Nations, an early warning system inland stations, monitoring the in-slab earthquakes, are distrib-
must be centered on the people at whom the alert is targeted uted with an average interstation distance of ∼40–60 km. The
and comprise four interrelated elements: (1) knowledge of the site selection of the FS stations was made taking into consider-
risk involved; (2) adequate monitoring and warning services; ation the local seismic, geological, and soil dynamic conditions.
(3) effective means of dissemination and communication of A background seismic noise analysis was performed to select the
the alerts; and (4) an adequate response capability of the pop- final location of an FS site. Sites where the background seismic
ulation (United Nations, 2006). Furthermore, to be an effec- noise was high in the 1–10 Hz band were avoided. Additional
tive earthquake early warning system, the operational segment elements, aimed at strengthening the resilience and reliability of
must be capable of being activated within a few seconds after the network, such as physical security, communications line of
the detection of a seismic event and to disseminate the alert in sight and ease of access, for example, were also taken into ac-
the shortest possible time. The detection process should be part count in the final selection decision. Figure 3 shows a picture of
of a continuous and automatic monitoring activity. The dis- a typical FS station in the town of El Cortés, to the south of
semination and communications instrumentation processes Mexico City.
should be linked to well-structured engineering procedures
with the goal of attaining the highest rate of data availability, Structure and Topology of the Communications Network
system reliability, and resilience. In the design of the SASMEX When an earthquake is detected, the data generated by the FS
network, these considerations were taken into account in the stations are sent as a distributed system to collection centers
design and operation of the main components of the system: located in the cities receiving the seismic alert. SASMEX uses
the seismic sensing stations, the communications network, the redundant platforms to channel the early warning information:
collection and control nodes, and the decision-making algo- radios, satellite links, and private Internet links form the back-
rithms that decide in real time the magnitude ranges of the earth- bone of the telecommunications network. The redundant
quakes detected by the strong-motion sensing stations (Fig. 2). communications are designed to guarantee the data availability
and reliability of the system (Fig. 4).
The Monitoring Field Stations The FS stations issue the warning parameters using VHF,
As mentioned above, in the initial stage of SASMEX, the cover- UHF, and HF unidirectional radio links, via two different
age included only part of the Guerrero gap (Fig. 1). The first communication channels. This dual transmission is designed to
years of operation showed that several earthquakes located out- reduce the possibility of interference of the alerting signal by
side of the instrumented region were strongly felt also in Mexico other radio communication systems in the vicinity of the FS
City. Clearly, SASMEX was unable to issue timely alerts for stations or near the repeater sites. The radio communication
these earthquakes, raising uncertainty in the population about system is also designed by CIRES and has similar maintenance

384 Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018

▴ Figure 2. Operational diagram showing the necessary stages of a seismic early warning system, including the names of the SASMEX
components.

procedures and environmental and security protection as the at least two neighboring FS stations to confirm the presence
FS stations of the system. of an earthquake of the established magnitude range to broadcast
The radio transmitters are kept offline to save power. They an alert. EASAS are installed in all cities subscribing to SAS-
are automatically turned on when the algorithms running in the MEX. In addition, based on the scheduled state of health
FS stations detect the need to issue an early warning broadcast. messages sent by the FS stations, the EASAS generate logs sum-
Once open, the radio link offers a high-power communication marizing information on the operational performance of the FS
path to relay the coded alerting message. The alerting message is station based on the state of health reports.
coded to prevent hacking of the system and the broadcast of false
or spurious alerts. The same communications protocol holds for
Dissemination of Seismic Early Warning Alerts
the routine transmission of the state of health parameters from
In 1991, CIRES was instructed by the Mexico City authorities
all FS and radio repeater sites. The standby capability of the
to broadcast preventive alerts to owners of dedicated receivers
radio links is designed to reduce the electrical power demand, of the system in case of an earthquake with body-wave mag-
making it possible to operate exclusively with an independent nitude 5:0 < mb < 6:0. In the case of earthquakes M b ≥ 6:0,
energy supply based on solar panels. SASMEX was instructed to relay public alerts that, in addition
The alert messages sent by the sensing stations are received of being received by the dedicated receivers, would be broadcast
by central control and broadcasting systems called EASAS (acro- via the radio and television stations that volunteered since
nym in Spanish of Alternate Emission Stations of the Seismic 1993 to disseminate the seismic alert to the public (Espinosa-
Alert System). One of their functions is to receive and decode Aranda et al., 1995). Since 2012, the preventive alert threshold
the digital messages sent from the FS stations. These data are was raised to M b ≥ 5:5. Local authorities in other cities define
then used to make the decision whether or not to activate an their own alerting levels according to their particular situation;
earthquake early warning. As explained in more detail below, for example, in Oaxaca, the preventive alert was defined for
when two or more stations confirm the required magnitude magnitude estimation of 5:0 ≤ mb < 5:5, and for public alert
range an alert is disseminated. In other words, the EASAS need when M b ≥ 5:5. All alerts share the same siren sound.

Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018 385

 3. A modified version of multihazard radio receiver system
from the National Weather Radio of the National Oceano-
graphic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) using
the Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) protocol
(Fig. 5).
4. Recently, the government of Mexico City made the deci-
sion to issue all seismic early warnings though the system
of public loud speakers distributed throughout the city.
The city of Oaxaca also uses seven large loudspeakers since
2003.
5. After the September 2017 earthquakes, the government of
Mexico City launched as an experiment a cell phone ap-
plication called 911 CDMX. This app will be used to mea-
sure potential delays between the warning issued by the
server and the reception by individual cell phones. This
will allow judging the applicability of this alert broadcast-
ing technology in the future.
Since 1993, several radio and TV stations that are part of
the Broadcasters Association of the Mexico City Valley broad-
cast the public seismic alerts. In addition, television channels
7, 11, 13, and 22 in Mexico City, and channel 34 in the
Toluca Valley, also relay the warning signals. In the cities of
Chilpancingo, Acapulco, Oaxaca, and Puebla, several local ra-
dio and TV broadcasters volunteered to broadcast the seismic
alerts.
To ensure the timely and reliable dissemination of the early
warning alerts, all broadcasters accepted the use of remotely
controlled switches independently operated by SASMEX. These
▴ Figure 3. Typical installation of a free-field strong motion (FS) switches automatically substitute the regular programming with
station: (a) The top figure shows the towers hosting the commu- the official sound signal of the alert. The unique, high-pitched
nication antennas and the solar panels; (b) at the foot of the tow- and clearly identifiable signal, warning of an impending earth-
ers a metal security box hosts the digitizer, accelerometer, and quake has a 60-s duration. Television broadcasting of the seismic
the communications equipment. alerts constitutes an excellent resource, particularly during the
periods of highest public ratings. This allows warning to a large
segment of the population. To date, 28 AM, FM, and TV chan-
According to the current regulations in Mexico City, the nels disseminate the warnings in Mexico City and in the Toluca
broadcast of an earthquake early warning must be made within Valley; 9 radio and 2 TV stations do likewise in Oaxaca City. In
5 s of the decision to alert, regionalized, and aimed at the larg- the cities of Chilpancingo and Acapulco, over 100 users, includ-
est number of people as possible. The new regulations also pre- ing radio and TV stations, schools and emergency response in-
scribe that the devices that receive the seismic alert must meet stitutions receive SASMEX warnings (Table 1).
specific technical criteria to be in acceptable conditions to emit In 1993, SASMEX developed a dedicated radio, called
the seismic alert. Also, the law requires that seismic early warn- SASPER. This was the first mechanism used by SASMEX
ing devices should be installed at all strategic buildings such to receive and broadcast seismic alerts. SASPER is operated
as hospitals, public offices, and security buildings. SASMEX and supervised by CIRES. It is also used, in a modified version,
disseminates the seismic alerts in the form of a siren sound as a control system to retransmit the earthquake early warnings
through five technologies: to other communication systems. Although SASPER has a very
1. Several radio and TV stations broadcast public alerts of high level of reliability, manufacturing costs are high and few
strong earthquakes. Audio switches are installed at all co- units were installed. The users of SASPER devices are mainly
operating radio and television stations that remotely trig- authorities, universities, and schools. Emergency response and
ger the early warning signals. The switches are controlled civil protection institutions use SASPER radio receivers to pre-
and operated exclusively by SASMEX. pare emergency vehicles and initiate the evacuation of their
2. Dedicated radio receivers built by CIRES, called SASPER, facilities and parking lots. There are now ∼300 users using this
integrate a receiver of the seismic early warning signal with equipment in Mexico City, including the Red Cross and the
loudspeakers that broadcast both preventive and public firefighters.
alerts. Independent radio links are used to disseminate the Since 2008, SASMEX incorporated as part of its alert dis-
alert via these devices. semination devices, a low-cost multihazard radio called SAR-

386 Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018

▴ Figure 4. Communication links showing the topology of the network linking the FS stations (solid circles) to the repeaters (triangles)
and on the control and emission centers (EASAS [acronym in Spanish of Alternate Emission Stations of the Seismic Alert System]) (large
gray circles) installed at all cities where the seismic early warning system is installed to broadcast alerts.

MEX, which is a modified version of the National Weather Emergency Management Agency in the United States, to en-
Radio of the NOAA (Fig. 5). These radios use NOAA sure that alerts are received only by radios located in the tar-
Weather Radio-Specific Area Message Encoder technology geted locations. CIRES modified and improved these radio
(NWR-SAME) based on the norm established by Federal receivers to be able to receive and to broadcast the seismic
warning signals in less than 3 s. SARMEX were used for the
first time during the earthquake of 27 March 2009 (M 5.3).
All schools in Mexico City that are located on the soft lacus-
trine soils have SARMEX radios in every classroom. Today,
89,000 SARMEX devices are in use in the cities of Acapulco,
Chilpancingo, Morelia, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Mexico City. In
2013, this radio was used in a pilot test by the Mexican Navy
(Secretaría de Marina) as the means of transmitting alerts from
the Mexican Tsunami Early Warning System.
On 19 September 2015, as part of the activities com-
memorating the destructive 1985 earthquake, more than 6700
loud speakers installed throughout Mexico City were incorpo-
rated to the SASMEX dissemination system. The loud speakers
prioritize seismic warnings over any other task. Ten days after
the system was inaugurated, a preventive alert was issued of an
M 5 earthquake off the cost of Guerrero. These loud speakers
broadcast both preventive and public alerts and 98% of the
▴ Figure 5. SARMEX radios used by the SASMEX to broadcast loudspeakers are turned on within 5 s. In downtown Mexico
seismic early warnings. The SARMEX radios are modified Weather City, one of the more vulnerable parts of the city, the loud-
Radios of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency that allow speakers emit the alert in less than 2 s. It is estimated that the
the broadcast of SASMEX alerts without delay in a predefined area. loudspeakers may reach up to 25 million people.

Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018 387

 Table 1 and the seismic energy released in the period
List of SASPER Users and Commercial Radio and TV Broadcasters twice the time between the P and the S phases,
Disseminating Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX) Seismic Early in the first case, and within this time window
Warning Alerts in the latter case. The sensing stations of SAS-
MEX have no absolute time signals, as they
Mexico Oaxaca were designed specifically for the purpose of a
Users City Toluca Acapulco Chilpancingo City seismic alerting system and not to locate the
Emergency 11 5 5 1 4 earthquakes. The arrival-time detection of the P
Schools 80 20 15 18 17 and S waves is determined based on two inde-
Government 166 26 13 18 13 pendent methodologies.
institutions Since the beginning of operations in 1991,
TV and radio 23 3 6 6 9 SASMEX has used an algorithm, which, based
Metro (Mexico 8 0 0 0 0 on the seismic energy released in the period
City subway) 2
t S –t P , discriminates and classifies the magni-
Private 54 7 3 2 0 tude. The algorithm bases its decision on two
enterprise parameters: (1) the amplitude of the cumulative
Residential 0 1 11 0 0 average squared acceleration and (2) the instan-
buildings taneous rate of growth of the seismic energy.
Total 342 62 53 45 43 The resulting values of these two parameters are
mapped to a set of curves calibrated with earth-
quakes of known magnitude. At the time that
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND DATA AVAILABILITY the algorithm was designed, it made use of magnitude mb .
Recently, Cuéllar et al. (2017a) made a detailed performance
Clearly, FS stations in an earthquake early warning system evaluation of this algorithm demonstrating its robustness in
should operate 24 × 7, with a high level of data availability. classifying earthquakes in the magnitude bins prescribed by
To guarantee the operation of the stations, the instruments the Mexican authorities to issue early warning seismic alerts;
are protected against salinity, atmospheric phenomena, and Cuéllar et al. (2017a) describe in detail the algorithm design
vandalism. To guarantee its operational capability and the early and performance. The sensing stations of SASMEX have no
detection of problems or potential failures, the FS stations fol- absolute time signals, as they are designed specifically for the
low a routine to report oral prerecorded messages and a written purpose of a seismic alert.
log file twice a day, describing state of health parameters. More recently, CIRES developed an algorithm designed
The FS stations are powered by solar panels and use fiber to reduce the time necessary to issue an early warning. The
optics links to the local radio transmitter, which is the first new algorithm takes half of the time to conclude the deci-
element of the communication system network. All failure and sion-making process relative to the 2
t S –t P , by measuring the
damage reports are transmitted to both the EASAS and to the seismic energy released in the coda of the P wave during the
central data management center in Mexico City. HF, VHF, and time lapse S–P. The so-called t S –t P algorithm is based on two
UHF radio links are used to report both the routine status parameters: (1) the logarithm of the peak ground acceleration,
messages and the eventual seismic warning data. The opera- max
a
t –t
S P  and the logarithmic cumulative acceleration
tional procedures establish that when a malfunction is de- SA
t –t
S P . The model is built using a learning machine proc-
tected, the technical maintenance staff should arrive at the FS ess that iteratively parameterizes in segments the linear fit of
site within 24 hrs of the confirmed report to conduct the re- max
a
t –t
S P  and SA
t –t
S P  to M w values determined from
pairs. The seismic sensor has several algorithms to perform self- calibration earthquakes (Cuéllar et al., 2017b). The FS stations
diagnostics that recognize unusually high level of urban noise on the coast run the two algorithms in parallel. The decision
or induced vibrations. The detection algorithms identify sta- to issue an alert is taken by the first algorithm that meets the
tions with persistently high seismic noise and downgrade their pre-established criteria. For example, in the case of the recent
contribution in the alerting criteria. 7 September 2017 earthquake (M w 8.2), the t S –t P algorithm
was the first to trigger the alert.
ALERT ISSUANCE CRITERIA
THE HISTORY OF EARLY WARNINGS ISSUED
The process to issue an early seismic warning signal is initiated
in the strong-motion stations installed in the field (FS). These During its 26 yrs in operation, SASMEX has identified
stations continuously calculate the parameters used to detect a and recorded 6896 earthquakes ranging in magnitude from
potentially large earthquake based on the algorithms developed 4 < M w < 8:2. The largest earthquake by far recorded by the
by CIRES. The stations along the subduction zone run in par- SASMEX network is the 7 September 2017 Tehuantepec
allel the 2
t S –t P  and t S –t P algorithms (Cuéllar et al., 2017a). earthquake. Of these earthquakes, SASMEX has broadcast
To issue an alert, these algorithms measure various parameters 158 seismic early warnings to the various cities subscribing

388 Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018

to the system. In Mexico City, in particular, the Table 2
system has issued 103 alerts; 32 of them have Summary of Earthquakes Recorded and Early Warnings Issued by SASMEX
been public alerts for earthquakes M w > 6, from 1991 to 2017
and 70 for moderate earthquakes 5:5 < M w < 6
(Ⓔ Table S1). Monitoring
These statistics beg for the question: What Earthquakes 3:5 < M < 8:2 6,896
is a successful seismic early warning alert? Alerted Not alerted
Clearly, a false alert is one issued when there is Discrimination to be 158 6,738
no earthquake. Another case is the omission of Acceleration records 14,750
issuing an alert when a large earthquake occurs.
Dissemination
Clearly, the purpose of an early warning system
is not to produce a parametric seismic catalog Earthquake Warning
with accurately estimated magnitudes, particu- Broadcast Seismic Alerts
larly for large earthquakes. The algorithms, Public Preventive False* Total
however, should be able to avoid underestima-
Mexico City - CDMX
tions or overestimations of magnitude within (since 1991) 32 70 1 103
an adequate probabilistic range. Clearly, to
Oaxaca City (since 2003) 49 31 80
accurately estimate the magnitude in the range
Acapulco (since 2007) 31 14 45
5:5 < M w < 6, during the very short time nec-
essary by an early warning system, is extremely Chilpancingo (since 2007) 31 15 46
difficult (Iglesias et al., 2007; Suárez et al., 2009). Morelia (since 2012) 14 4 18
During its 26-yr history, SASMEX has is- Puebla (since 2015) 9 1 10
sued only one false alert. It took place on 16 *17 November 1993.
November 1993, during the first months of
the operational stage of SAS. In fact, in the view
of its technical experts, the system was launched publicly before M w ≥ 6. During the expansion phase of SASMEX, from 2013
it was fully tested, due to the governmental need to demon- to 2015, the magnitude of two earthquakes (M w < 6) was
strate the existence of a seismic early warning system serving overestimated and a public alert was issued.
Mexico City. Admittedly, in the more difficult issue of issuing Similar results were obtained also for the (t S –t P ) algo-
preventive alerts, the system has at times broadcast preventive rithm that is now running in parallel at the FS stations. The
alerts for earthquakes that are smaller than M w 5.5. In this case, performance of t S –t P algorithm was tested as a warning tool
however, the reaction of the population has been generally using 89 earthquakes in the Mexican subduction zone from
positive. 1985 to 2017 that met the criterion of having at least two sta-
Defining magnitude thresholds to issue alerts is particu- tions within 70 km from the epicenter. The results show that
larly difficult in Mexico City. People in the areas underlain by 79 were correctly screened. The magnitude of six events was
soft shale in the central part of the city are subjected to ground overestimated and four were underestimated. Those that were
motion that is many times larger than the acceleration felt in not correctly estimated had very unfavorable distances from
the high regions surrounding the city. Thus, earthquakes that the epicenter to the closest stations. Cuéllar et al. (2017b) de-
may be strongly felt by people in downtown Mexico City may scribes in detail the design of the algorithm and the perfor-
be overlooked in the highlands of the valley. As a result, when mance tests.
citizens perceive that an earthquake occurred, even when the
ground motion experienced was smaller than expected, they DATA GENERATED BY THE SASMEX NETWORK
tend to trust the alert. The opposite is certainly unacceptable,
when an earthquake is strongly felt and no alert sounds. SAS- SASMEX was conceived and designed as a seismic early warn-
MEX has never had this situation. ing system for Mexico City. Throughout the years, several
The performance of the 2
t S –t P  algorithm is illustrated other cities in southern and western Mexico saw the usefulness
by the results of the systematic tests conducted by Cuéllar et al. of having a seismic alert and the system grew gradually. During
(2017a). These tests demonstrate that this algorithm is a robust its operation, it has successfully warned of incoming seismic
and effective tool for a seismic early warning system. The tests waves of the largest events in the region and has become a cru-
conducted on the 59 acceleration records of 31 earthquakes cial tool of the civil protection efforts in the country against
with at least two or more accelerograms and with M w ≥ 6 in- seismic phenomena (Table 2).
dicate that in all cases, with the exception of one strong-motion During the course of its operation, SASMEX has recorded
record, the events are classified as M w ≥ 6. Thus, the algorithm 6896 earthquakes, which have generated 14,750 accelerograms
shows a high level of reliability and robustness. Although of both subduction earthquakes and events occurring within
the algorithm underestimates the magnitudes of large and the subducted Cocos plate beneath the continent (Table 2).
great earthquakes, these events are identified and classified as Accelerograms recorded by SASMEX and by the strong-

Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 2A March/April 2018 389

motion network of Mexico City, also operated by CIRES are In contrast, the 19 September Morelos earthquake took
being restructured. As an example of the data gathering poten- place at an epicentral distance ∼120 km from Mexico City and
tial of the SASMEX network of instruments, with the current at a focal depth of ∼60 km. The incoming seismic waves were
number and distribution of FS stations, on average the network detected on the strong-motion instruments installed to mon-
records 35 earthquakes and 70 accelerograms per month. The itor this type of in-slab seismicity (Fig. 1). The alert was issued
data are available with the previous permission of the Oaxaca as soon as the S waves reached the monitoring stations above
and Mexico City authorities to interested users in the engineer- the hypocenter. However, considering the proximity of the hy-
ing and scientific community. In the early years, the system pocenter, the advance warning was issued when the population
used fax and e-mail to communicate results. Nowadays, it uses of Mexico City was already experiencing the strong shaking
e-mail, webpages, social networks, and RSS services. An educa- induced by the incoming P waves.
tional and outreach effort to the public is made through several Average peak ground accelerations in the soft shales in-
social media listed in the homepage of CIRES website (see duced by the 19 September earthquake were 116 cm=s2 ; how-
Data and Resources). ever, in the transition zone, between the soft shales and the
highlands, peak ground accelerations of 220 cm=s2 were ob-
served. The 19 September earthquake contrasts the differences
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS in warning time available in Mexico City for earthquakes com-
ing from the subduction zone and from nearby events, that will
Although Mexico City is relatively far from the large earth- offer irremediably a short warning time. The new 3 s algorithm
quakes that occur in the subduction zone, the particular char- will help in the future reduce the warning time for in-slab
acteristics of the soil in Mexico City presented a unique events.
opportunity to design and build a seismic early warning system. The continuous technological improvement and moderni-
The city has a history of being damaged by large earthquakes zation of the infrastructure and of the software, including the
and the distance to the seismic sources allows an unusually long algorithms used in the detection and classification process en-
time of opportunity prior to the arrival of the strong shaking. sures the continued operation of SASMEX in a reliable, effec-
Thus, the construction of an early warning system was one of tive, and resilient manner to face the challenges of warning the
the priorities to improve the seismic resilience of Mexico City. important cities now using the alert of future large earthquakes.
As such, it became the first system in the world to issue seismic
alerts to the public. DATA AND RESOURCES
Since the initiation of formal operation in 1993, SASMEX
has successfully operated, warning the population of Mexico The historical catalog of all seismic early warning alerts issued
City of impending large earthquakes. by Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX) is available in
The addition of other cities in southern and western http://www.cires.org.mx/sasmex_historico_es.php (last accessed
Mexico, which now subscribe to the alerting system, has posed January 2018). The other data on the educational and outreach
several challenges. The first is the need to characterize and to effort can be found at http://www.cires.org.mx (last accessed
rapidly estimate the magnitude of earthquakes that occur within January 2018).
the subducted Cocos plate that lie very close to population cen-
ters in central Mexico. Second, there was a need to improve the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
detection algorithm to more rapidly decide when to issue an
alert. A new algorithm was developed that uses the first 3 s of The authors express their gratitude to the governments of
the P-wave coda to decide whether or not to issue an alert. Its Mexico City and of the state of Oaxaca, the institutions that
future implementation will help in a more rapid decision-mak- provide funding to the Mexican Seismic Alert System (SAS-
ing process. Finally, CIRES has maintained a steady vocation to MEX) network, for use of their data. Special thanks are due
improve and modernize the design and operational proced to Guadalupe Rico, Sandra Ramos, Marisela Palomino, Cecilia
ures of the engineering infrastructure, to ensure the reliable and Hernández, and Arminda Rangel for their invaluable support
effective operation of the integrated components. in collecting and structuring the data presented in this article.
The more recent examples of the performance of SAS- Anaid Galicia ably drafted the figures. The authors acknowl-
MEX were during the 8 and 19 September 2017 Tehuantepec edge the constructive comments made on the original manu-
(M w 8.2) and Morelos (M w 7.1) earthquakes. The 8 Septem- script by Men-Andrin Meier, two anonymous reviewers, and
ber earthquake is the first with a magnitude M w > 8 that has Associate Editor Brendan Crowell.
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