 No one can predict earthquakes, but with science and technology, people can be given enough warning before the shaking begins. Earthquake. Duck cover and hold on. Light shaking expected. This is Shake Alert. Earthquake. Earthquake. Moderate shaking expected in four seconds. It's a prototype early warning system in California that can detect when an earthquake is about to happen. Depending on the size of the quake and the distance from the epicenter, this system could give people up to two minutes of warning that they will experience a tremor. The warnings will be sent over radio, television, cell phones, social media, and some people might even hear them over PA systems at schools or work. Officials agree that it's better to have a little warning than not at all when a big earthquake is about to hit. It only takes a few seconds to drop cover and hold on, and it doesn't take very long to get out of harm's way in many situations. There's going to be a very important aspect of this system that is automated responses. Slowing and stopping trains, stopping elevators, stopping production lines, closing valves and pipelines, things like that. The Governor's Office of Emergency Services is leading the coordination to create the most complex earthquake early warning system ever developed. Recently, Cal OES held two workshops in Northern and Southern California to collaborate with experts and plan the implementation of the system. Officials say a serious and focused effort between federal, state, and local governments is now underway, and private industry will play a crucial role in getting this system completed by the 2016 deadline. This effort has been a 20-year effort. I mean, we have made more progress in the last eight months than we have in the last eight years. We are on a fast track. We're doing what we can to get this thing done and in place. It's a legacy program for California, but one that's very critical, not only from a life safety standpoint, but from an economic impact and recovery standpoint after the earthquake. Although a lot of work has been done over the years to develop the prototype system, officials admit that creating an accurate and reliable system that meets strict scientific standards and avoids costly false alarms will be expensive. Where is the money going to come from? Probably the biggest question of the day. We know that the $80 million or so price tag is a small but smart investment to make to protect the billions of dollars of infrastructure in the lives of Californians. Leading scientists from California and around the nation are working together, building upon their years of research and design to create what will be considered the most complex earthquake early warning system in the world. The system is running. It's operational. We just need to complete it so the entire state can get a warning. The shake alert prototype takes advantage of an existing seismic network operated by UC Berkeley, USGS and Caltech. This network provides instant measurements of earthquakes in the state. A reliable early warning system will require a significant expansion of the system and hundreds of additional sensors installed. What we're seeking now is the support to harden that system, make it reliable enough for public alerts and for industry to take actions based on the data coming from that system. In recent years, major earthquakes throughout the world like the Tohoku earthquake in Japan emphasize the importance of understanding earthquake hazards and developing tools to help plan and prepare for tremors. The goal in California is to take the lessons learned from past disasters and create a massive system that can provide warnings to more than 38 million Californians living in the nation's third largest state.