People in earthquake-prone Nepal stand a better chance of surviving a giant earthquake like the one that devastated the country a year ago, thanks to a new early-warning system that was built through cooperation between the Institute of Care-Life in China and the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology.

Construction of the new system has been completed, according to an announcement on the first anniversary of the magnitude-7.8 Nepal earthquake that killed 8,699 people on April 25, 2015.

The early-warning mechanism, which cost $3 million, covers one-third of the geographic territory of Nepal and half of its population, according to Wang Tun, founder of the Institute of Care-Life and the creator of the system. Wang is based in Chengdu, Sichuan province.