Building an Earthquake Early Warning System in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico faces significant seismic risk, situated along the boundary of the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates. In partnership with the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN), Grillo is deploying a network of over 100 seismic sensors across the island to create a robust earthquake early warning system.

The Challenge

The Caribbean region experiences frequent seismic activity, yet many areas lack adequate monitoring infrastructure. Traditional seismic networks require expensive equipment and complex installation procedures, making it difficult to achieve the sensor density needed for effective early warning.

Our Approach

Grillo sensors are designed for rapid deployment and low maintenance. Each sensor connects to the Grillo Cloud platform, providing real-time monitoring and automated earthquake detection. The network uses our SISTEM module for machine learning-based event association and magnitude estimation.

Impact

When complete, this network will provide crucial seconds of warning time before earthquake shaking arrives—enough time for people to drop, cover, and hold on, and for automated systems to shut down critical infrastructure safely.

The partnership with PRSN demonstrates how modern sensor technology can democratize earthquake early warning, making life-saving alerts available to communities that need them most.