According to a lead Taiwanese inventor, a research team have managed to create perhaps one of the most important inventions in the history of mankind, a small device that is purportedly capable of detecting earthquakes about 30 seconds before they happen. If their claim turns out to be true, then we could soon see disaster warnings issued a full 30 seconds before catastrophes occur. The expert said on Monday that the low-cost device was roughly the size of a tape deck and was made of metal.

Members of the team stress that it's capable of detecting the speed and acceleration of an incoming earthquake in time to issue advanced warnings. It can also establish the potential magnitude of an earthquake, and issue caution messages to vital infrastructure operators (such as natural gas and oil suppliers) and passenger trains, so as to avoid material losses and human deaths. The researcher who has made the announcement is National Taiwan University Department of Geosciences expert Wu Yih-min, Reuters reports.

“We can tell within 30 seconds whether it's going to be a big or small quake. We can sense the scale and how much damage it's likely to cause,” he told during a press conference. He added that the device itself could be sold for as little as T$10,000 ($302) on the open market, and that his team spent more than 5 years on the research and development phases of their new device. It operates by being attached to places where it's unlikely to be shaken by some force other than earthquakes, and its entire technology relies on a chip that costs only a few dollars.

Among the most likely places to install the new system, Central Weather Bureau seismological bureau director Kuo Kai-wen enumerated schools, nuclear power plants, railroad systems, public buildings and other such important structures. His institution helped Yih-min and the university research team test the new device. Now, the only thing that remains is for the experts to figure out a way of connecting the apparatus to a computer system, so that the warnings would be transmitted most effectively.