Hi Canie,

You have to look at this from a practical point of view.

The goal is to let people know when an earthquake is headed their way so that they can stay out of dangerous buildings for a while. And assuming that GPS and laser based systems etc. could be made to work, they would still not be available to most of the people around the world who would need them. Those are the people who live in areas where buildings have been constructed so poorly that even a mild earthquake can cause them to collapse. On the other hand, if Shan’s system does work then it appears to be so inexpensive and easy to use that people in every village could use it no matter how remote or poor they might be.

If for every three destructive earthquakes in their area it successfully indicated that one might be about to occur, incorrectly indicated that another was going to occur when there was not going to be one, and said nothing at all when a third one was about to occur then on the average it would have saved 35% of the lives which might otherwise have been lost. 100% saved lives would of course be more desirable. But 35% is a good start.