Android announces expansion to its earthquake alert system 30 Apr 2021
Android has announced a new expansion to its Android Earthquake Alerts System that uses both the detection and alerts capabilities, bringing these alerts to Android users in countries that don’t have early warning alert systems.
“We’re introducing the Android Earthquake Alerts System in Greece and New Zealand,” says Android product manager, Boone Spooner.
“Android users will receive automatic early warning alerts when there is an earthquake in their area. Users who do not wish to receive these alerts can turn this off in device settings.”
Android says that in a natural disaster or emergency, every second can count. It says when it comes to earthquakes, studies show that more than 50% of injuries can be prevented if users receive an early warning, and have the critical seconds needed to get to safety.
Android phones send out earthquake alerts in Greece and New Zealand
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The two countries are prone to earthquakes, but lack an early warning system.
On Android phones with Google Play Services installed, the accelerometer will be used to sense when an earthquake might be happening. An earthquake detection server collects coarse location data from many Android devices in the region to determine if an earthquake is happening, where it’s happening, and what the magnitude is.
An alert is immediately sent out to every Android device whose owner could be affected by the quake.
“Today we’re announcing an expansion of the Android Earthquake Alerts System that uses both the detection and alerts capabilities, bringing these alerts to Android users in countries that don’t have early warning alert systems. We’re introducing the Android Earthquake Alerts System in Greece and New Zealand, where Android users will receive automatic early warning alerts when there is an earth
Android Community
April 29, 2021
Last August, Google announced that they were launching an Android Earthquake Alerts System in partnership with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and powered by ShakeAlert. Basically what it does is to turn smartphones into a sort-of seismometer and also send alerts faster and almost near-instant information to Google Search. Now they’re expanding the system to Android users in Greece and New Zealand. This means users in the two countries will receive early warning alerts when there’s an earthquake in their areas.
The system is able to use the accelerometer of Android devices to detect the initial P-waves generated by earthquakes. It will then send a city-level location to the earthquake detection server of Google. The system will then verify the information before sending a loud notification with information like location and magnitude before the S-wave hits. Users will then receive automatically the early warning alerts if it’
On Android phones with Google Play Services installed, the accelerometer will be used to sense when an earthquake might be happening. An earthquake detection server collects .
Through this system, we hope to provide people with the advance notice they need to stay safe.
The Android Earthquake Alerts System is being rolled out in Aotearoa and Greece, having only been previously available in parts of the US.
GeoNet, a partnership between the Earthquake Commission, GNS Science and Land Information New Zealand, reports between 50 and 80 earthquakes a day, or around 20,000 per year in New Zealand.
A report on Stuff says the system will be triggered by quakes of magnitude of 4.5 or greater and in more dangerous quakes will alert users even when the phone is switched off.
The system is separate to the National Emergency Management Agency system which has alerted Kiwis to COVID-19 lockdowns as well as tsunamis and earthquakes through their mobile phones.