A University of Utah earthquake expert received a lifetime achievement award from the Western States Seismic Policy Council.
Walter Arabasz got the award last week at a national earthquake conference in Seattle. He is director of the university’s Seismograph Stations.
The award recognizes outstanding leaders in earthquake-risk reduction.
After a pager vibrated on his pajamas, Arabasz was the first to contact authorities about tremors tied to the cave-in at Utah’s Crandall Canyon coal mine Aug. 6. Six miners died in that collapse.
The pager signaled that an earthquake above a certain threshold had occurred.
Arabasz is credited with getting federal money to develop a real-time earthquake reporting system for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
He is the fifth recipient of the lifetime award from the Western States Seismic Policy Council.
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters
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