> Winner at Hack Without Borders 2025
> The Problem
Haiti faces high seismic risk but has gaps in power, mobile coverage, and warning delivery, so critical alerts often don’t reach remote communities fast enough—contributing to higher casualties.
Earthquake damage in Haiti
> What SeismoLink does
SeismoLink is a community-deployable quake detection and alarm unit that triggers audible/visual alerts immediately. It’s designed to work even when grid power or cell service is unreliable.
Alarm unit internals
> How it works
SeismoLink uses a satellite modem to access GeoTIFF image files directly. These files are elevation maps, and by subtracting the elevation of two maps that were measured at different times, we can evaluate the ground displacement. A large ground displacement is an indicator of unusual seismic activity; therefore, when this displacement exceeds a certain threshold, an alarm is raised to notify community members.
GeoTIFF displacement map
> What's next for SeismoLink
Build a physical prototype and field test
Swap parts for lower cost equivalents; target <$300 materials cost per unit
Design a multilingual app to trigger tests, surface analytics, and show a live status
© Eshaan Marocha 2025