KarunaNews Story

Government earthquake alert systems are now being supplemented around the world with Google accelerometer data on smartphones and smartwatches, effectively creating a Google-wide early warning system. The system has increased the number of people in earthquake risk zones capable of receiving alerts by 1,000%, with 2024 seeing over 2 billion devices receiving one. Called the Android Earthquakes Alert system (AEA), it uses data from Android-powered devices to capture the faint signal of P-waves, a seismic tremor that precedes the more destructive S-waves. Using the network of devices like a giant sponge, it’s a kind of detection through crowdsourcing, and allows the AEA network to predict where earthquakes may strike, and how powerful they will come to be based on the sheer preponderance of data. So far, AEA has sent out alerts for 11,000 quakes in 98 countries, with 85% of Google-device users report having received an alert.