The project that won is an earthquake early warning system, which includes a mobile app and notification system. Since California experiences thousands of earthquakes each year, knowing how big an earthquake will be and when it will take place could save lives.
"This could increase earthquake readiness and resiliency, saving lives and improving response," the city's project abstract reads.
The application can offer up to a minute of warning so recipients can take cover.
"The application is used to identify and characterize an earthquake, calculate the likely intensity of ground shaking that will result, and deliver warnings to people and infrastructure in harm’s way," the document continues.
In the past, AWS has been used by the city to transmit messages from ShakeAlert to the city.
The prize is $50,000 of AWS credit.
City officials are also hoping to gather data on how residents will behave once they know an earthquake is on the way.
This story was originally published by Techwire.
