China to provide earthquake monitoring services to high-speed rails

BEIJING -- China will officially provide services for the quick reporting of earthquake seismic intensity and provide early warning information to high-speed rail networks nationwide by 2021, according to the China Earthquake Administration (CEA).

It will benefit information integration and sharing between China's high-speed rails and earthquake information system, increasing the country's early earthquake warning information service capabilities, said Yin Chaomin, deputy head of CEA.

The plan will also strengthen the safety of China's vast high-speed rails as they will extend to over 30,000 km by 2020, covering more than 80 percent of large and medium-sized cities, said Yin.

Yin said the CEA will continue to deepen research on early earthquake warning technologies and increase accuracy and reliability.

The early warning system will help people take emergency measures to escape and inform large projects such as reservoirs, high-speed railways and nuclear power stations to launch emergency response plans.