EMO seismic supervisor, Juan T. Camacho said the battery that runs the Anna-2 seismic station located on the southwest portion of the volcanic island drained causing the equipment to shut down at 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 7.
This left Anatahan with only one seismic station — Anna-East which could barely send data due to its location.
Since November, EMO has been closely monitoring a series of seismic activities in the Northern Islands, four of which occurred in one week.
There used to be four seismic stations on Anatahan.
The other two were Afok at the southwest of the volcano’s main crater and the most proximate to Saipan, and Annat in the west.
Afok, according to Camacho, has not been sending signal to EMO on Saipan because since an eruption in Nov. 2007, it was covered by ash.
Annat has been buried in volcanic ash for a long time, he added.
Camacho said the last seismic activity that they recorded before Anna 2 failed was an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale on Pagan last Jan. 5.
He believes there could have been more earthquakes occurring these days but there was no way to monitor them for now.
That is why they are getting ready to go to the Northern Island on Jan. 19 with a group of scientists from the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute, Camacho said.
These scientists, he added, will retrieve data from the seismometer and other equipment installed on Anatahan in June 2008.
With the help of these Japanese scientists who have their own helicopter, the CNMI government will not have to spend over $3,000 for transportation.
The trip also gives EMO the chance to fix the other malfunctioning seismic stations on Anatahan, but Camacho said it will cost them over $2,000, which they do not have.
All they can do, he added, is repair Anna-2 which won’t cost them money.
