Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts System was showcased during the first day of the Regional Conference of the World Meteorological Organisation’s Regional Association II (RAII) Asia, which is taking place in Abu Dhabi from March 13 to March 16. The system is designed to detect earthquakes around the world and provide Android users with timely information to prepare for tremors.
Earthquakes are a common occurrence globally, with hundreds of millions of people residing in earthquake-prone areas. According to the US National Earthquake Information Centre, there are approximately 55 earthquakes per day worldwide, which amounts to 20,000 per year. Although early warnings can help people prepare for the tremors, it is costly to build and deploy public infrastructure to detect and alert everyone for an earthquake.
To address this issue, Google used its Android technology to provide people with timely earthquake information through Google Search. The Android Earthquake Alerts System is a free service that detects earthquakes worldwide and can alert Android users before the tremors start. Android phones have inbuilt accelerometers that can sense vibrations and speed, which are indicators that an earthquake might be happening. When the phone detects something that it thinks may be an earthquake, it sends a signal to the 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 globally 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 intensity and area of impact are displayed on Google Search. Users can simply search for ‘Earthquake near me’ to get additional information about any seismic activity near them if they have felt shaking.
Abhishek Modi, APAC (Asia-Pacific) Partnerships Lead at Google, explained during the conference that Android phones’ tiny accelerometers can detect signals that indicate an earthquake might be happening. This innovative system is an example of how technology can be harnessed to help people prepare and stay safe during natural disasters.
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