Residents of Ottawa will one day receive an advance warning of three to 10 seconds before an earthquake hits, before the ground begins to shake.

Natural Resources Canada has installed seismic sensors in the Capital Region over the past week, which are part of the early earthquake warning network designed to send a notification via electronic devices before the strong shaking from the earthquake begins.

Chris Boutcher, a seismologist at Natural Resources Canada, said: "What that does is it gives people time to drop, cover, and hold on, so they can prepare before they start to feel the shaking."

The early earthquake warning network will have 400 sensors installed in earthquake-prone areas across Canada, including eastern Ontario.

Boutcher tells CTVNews that the seismic sensors will detect the initial waves of the earthquake, which are very weak, then send the alert. "So this network of stations, what it does is it digitizes this information quickly, sends it to our data centers, calculates the location and magnitude of this earthquake, and if it reaches a certain level of shaking, it will send alerts to mobile phones.

In June 2010, a magnitude 5 earthquake struck Val-des-Bois, Que. It caused damage in parts of western Quebec, while buildings and windows rattled in downtown Ottawa.

Natural Resources Canada says the early earthquake warning network would have given residents a warning of three to ten seconds for that earthquake.

Boutcher says that while a three to 10-second warning may not seem like much time, it is enough time to make a difference.

Boutcher added: "Sometimes those few seconds are all we really need to take those few steps of drop, cover, and hold on."

"Also, a three to ten-second warning is enough time to divert planes from landing at airports, close bridges and tunnels to traffic, and stop surgical operations in hospital operating rooms."

Natural Resources Canada says the further away from the earthquake epicenter you are, the more warning time you have. Ottawa is part of the Western Quebec seismic zone.

Boutcher says the area experiences about 120 earthquakes annually, but people only feel about 10 or so.

Seven seismic sensors have been installed in the Ottawa-Gatineau area so far, with plans for 20 more. Natural Resources Canada says the early earthquake warning system sensors have been installed in several locations, including Cumberland, Stittsville, Mississippi Mills, Kanata, and Carlsbad.

One was installed in Kingston. The earthquake warning system network is scheduled to become operational in 2024.