Earthquake alert on your smartphone
All smartphones contain tiny accelerometers that can sense vibrations and speed, signals that indicate an earthquake might be happening. If the phone detects something that it thinks may be an earthquake, it sends a signal to a Google earthquake detection server, along with a coarse location of where the shaking occurred. The server then combines information from many phones to figure out if an earthquake is happening. This approach uses the 2+billion Android phones in use around the world as mini-seismometers to create the world’s largest earthquake detection network; the phones detect the vibration and speed of shaking of an earthquake, and alert Android users in affected areas accordingly. The ShakeAlert® system then sends a signal to Android Earthquake Alerts System, which then sends an earthquake alert directly to Android users. Outside of these U.S. states, the system use a crowdsourced approach to detect earthquakes. The app can’t detect every earthquake, however. It has a higher success tracking earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 and above. The app is not available in all countries. The team’s ultimate goal is to deliver alerts from smartphone detection alone.
MyShake can be downloaded for free from Google Play or the iTunes Store and be instantly available for use wherever people take their phones.
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Safety & emergency Earthquake alerts. If you don't find Safety & emergency, tap Location Advanced Earthquake alerts.
- Turn Earthquake alerts on or off.
Android Earthquake Alerts System is a free service that detects earthquakes around the world and can alert Android users before shaking starts. If just 0.1% of the population of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi had the app during their magnitude 7.4 earthquake in 2018, simulations suggest that residents in the city of Palu could have had 15.6 seconds of warning before the destructive shaking began. The earthquake and tsunami killed over 2,000 people.
The AusIMM Geoscience Society committee would like to hear from you on other cool apps on your smartphone; Please Email us at geoscience@ausimm.com.au
