14 Year-Old Teen Builds Earthquake Detector

Sebastian Alegria is a self-described computer and internet nerd. He operates multiple twitter accounts from his home Windows desktop and has used a PC since he was at least four years old. But all that time with eyes glued to the screen hasn't been a complete waste for him: Algeria is the first line of defense for earthquakes in his native country of Chile.

It all started in 2010, when a devastating earthquake struck the South-American country. Alegria managed to survive unscathed, but the damage was not easy to miss around him. He wanted to do something, but wasn't sure exactly what. The idea finally came from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that happened earlier this year. He watched closely and learned that the people of Japan had an early-warning system to predict earthquakes (and the like). After doing a little googling, he realized he could build something of his own.

The first action he took was to buy an economically-priced earthquake detector from the United States. The whole unit only cost him around $80. Next, he took out the old-fashioned micro-controller and replaced it with an Arduino, a modern, open-source printed-circuit-board that has become very popular within the Maker community. Finally, he connected the device to a Twitter account, where it automatically warns anyone of an incoming earthquake who is following the account.

The country of Chile, no doubt inspired by Alegria, is installing a more sophisticated early-waring system sometime next year. Algeria, on the other hand, has no idea what he's doing in the future. After all, he's still only 14 years old. But's it's very likely, that no matter what he does, he will be a innovator and resource for his home country.

Sources:

Anna Heim, Meet the Chilean Teen Who Warns of Earthquakes on Twitter, The Next Web

Chile State Press, Presidente Pi±era: "It is up to us to be prepared..., Gobierno de Chile

Alarma de sismos, Alarma de sismos on Twitter, Twitter