Seismic early warning systems for the process industry

Early Warning System, i.e. a set of actions that can be taken from the moment when a seismic event is triggered with a significant reliability to the moment the quake strikes in a given location, seems to be a very valuable tool for the prevention of industrial damages. In the present paper, some insights for the process industry are presented. The aim is to discuss the main aspects related to management of large amounts of hazardous substances as well as to protection against failures and faults generated by seismic base excitations. Relations between structural monitoring, seismic reliability of equipments and industrial quantitative risk analyses will be analysed; critical issues will be discussed from an interdisciplinary standpoint in order to exploit the potentialities and define even limitations of the approach.