The program includes the construction of more than 5,000 quake-monitoring stations across the country, guaranteeing every city above county level will have at least one. The system will be in four major areas — northern China, the north-south seismic belt, coastal regions of southeastern China, and northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region — with a station every 25 km.

Li said if quake stations are about 30 km apart, the early-warning system can issue warning information about 10 seconds after a quake happens below ground.

Detecting P-waves with the system can provide a few precious seconds to people before the powerful S-waves arrive.

"The S-waves generally move at a speed of 3.5 km per second, which means before the warning is issued, S-waves have already spread in a radius of 35 km from the epicenter," he said, adding that the area within the 35-km radius of the epicenter, which is called the "blind area", cannot be warned.

Lushan county in the Ya'an earthquake in Sichuan province was in the blind area, Li said.

The early warning cannot play a role in small quakes, but if it is large with a huge affected area, the system will dramatically reduce damage and lead to fewer deaths, he said.

4月20日，四川省雅安市芦山县发生7.0级地震，截至周四三已造成196人遇难；2010年4月14日，青海省玉树县发生7.1级地震，2,698人遇难；2008年5月12日，四川汶川发生8.0级强震，遇难和失踪人数达8.7万人。

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