Some 30 of China's 37 seismographs, which will be connected to create a national earthquake-monitoring network, have been installed with a wideband digital device.

During the strong earthquakes that jolted Taiwan in late September, all digital seismographs responded by accurately recording the quake data. However, other seismographs in the cities of Luoyang, Shenzhen and Wuhan, which still use out- fashioned electromagnetic simulators, failed to record because of the high scale of seismic magnitude and the long distance.

According to Cai Yaxian, an expert with the China Seismological Bureau, digital seismographs with the world's widest bandwidths have been independently developed by scientists at the bureau. These devices can automatically record data from major tremors.

Japan already has bought 20 of these seismographs.