Earthquake Analysis Laboratory and Information Systems Inc. were founded in 2010 by Michio Hirai. When Michio found out there was data from various investigations into earthquake precursors and the research was not being shared to the public, he decided to take action. He strongly believes the results of such investigations should be shared; research should not be only for the sake of research. His knowledge of seismology increased under private tutelage and he thought of how to present complex ideas clearly to the layman.

He found EAL to bring together scientists who are willing to combine their understanding of why earthquakes occur. EAL/IS have a network of instruments to monitor changes within and above the earth. Information Systems Inc. analyzes the data then publishes the results in the form of a forecast every Monday and Thursday via a mailing list, App Store and Google play.

The primary focus of research was land-based until March 2011. The Great East Japan Earthquake forced EAL/IS to recognize the importance of ocean based research as well. IS forecast now includes analyzing the data with the sea around Japan in mind. To that end, Michio is constantly looking to improve his knowledge by being open to collaboration with scientists across all fields of study; seismology, volcanology, meteorology, mathematical statistics, engineering, just to name a few. Michio is pleased by IS’s high accuracy scores. Accurate forecasts have improved greatly with the use of F-net, the broadband seismograph network maintained by the NIED (National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience.)