&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "How Google warned Venezuela of an earthquake using Android phones as seismometers")
Seconds before the 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Venezuela, Android users received a warning from Google. The alert displayed the estimated magnitude of the earthquake and how far it was from the user’s location, offering them a tiny window in which they could reach a safe place. The foreshock was followed by an even bigger 7.5 magnitude aftershock 39 seconds later. The temblors have killed 164 people and injured nearly 1,000. People are now asking whether Google predicted the quake? It did not. Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts System detected the seismic activity and moments before the big one hit.
The warning came only a few seconds before the earthquake, and this small timeframe is believed to have saved many lives. Users on X wrote that an alarm rang on their phone, after which they rushed outside. How does Google’s earthquake alert system work?
According to Google, the system used the reach of Android’s platform to help detect earthquakes. Each Android phone is like a mini seismometer. As millions of other Android phones connect, they form the world’s largest earthquake detection network. Also Read: 164 dead, around 1,000 injured after powerful quakes, aftershocks rock Venezuela
How does a phone detect an earthquake?
All smartphones are equipped with tiny accelerometers that can detect signals of an incoming earthquake. If it thinks it is an earthquake, it shoots a signal to Google’s earthquake detection server along with a rough idea of where it is happening. When the same signal is received from many phones, the server combines all the information to figure out if an earthquake is coming. Since the signals are sent roughly at the speed of light, which is faster than the speed of an earthquake, people receive the alerts before the earthquake finally strikes.
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Seismology and disaster experts Dr Richard Allen, Dr Qingkai Kong and Dr Lucy Jones have together developed this approach to detecting earthquakes.
How Japan is detecting megaquakes
Despite decades of studies, earthquakes remain impossible to predict. However, countries like Japan have come up with ways to detect the initial signals and alert people in time. It has an early warning system in place since around 2007, which warns people about the intensity of the incoming quake and the time it is expected to hit, as per the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website. In 2022, the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion (HERP) and the JMA upgraded this system to detect large mega-earthquakes. The "foreshock-based alert" is triggered when a magnitude 7.0 or higher earthquake has already occurred in key subduction zones.
