- Android earthquake alerts reached 11.4 million Venezuelans last week
- The feature is now installed on 2.5 billion Android phones
- If you live in a country covered by the feature, it should be enabled by default
As of 2021, Android phones have had a built-in earthquake detection feature – and according to Google figures, it was able to warn 11.4 million people in advance of the devastating double earthquake that hit Venezuela on June 24.
This figure comes from the New York Times, with the early warning coming up to two minutes before the earth began to shake. The first alerts were sent just nine seconds after the earthquake began underground, according to Google.
The system works by using the accelerometers built into Android phones to detect faster, gentler seismic waves, called p-waves. This data is automatically anonymized and reported in the background to Google, and once there are enough matching reports, an alert is sent to all Android users who may be affected.
Phones must be stationary to be considered earthquake detectors (measurements from moving phones are not taken into account) and the earthquake must be of magnitude 4.5 or greater to trigger an alert. For more densely populated areas with more Android phones, alerts are delivered more quickly.
In three specific US states – California, Washington and Oregon – Android alerts rely on real seismic monitoring data from a network of 1,675 sensors that make up the ShakeAlert system, managed by the US Geological Survey.
How to enable earthquake alerts
Android earthquake alerts are enabled by default on modern Android phones: to check in Settings, tap Safety and emergency SO Seismic alerts. You must, however, be in one of the 98 supported countries listed by Google here, including Australia and the United States.
How far you are from the epicenter affects the alerts you see for an earthquake. The most serious warnings will break any Do Not Disturb settings you have in place, take up the full screen, and emit a loud sound. If less severe shaking is expected, you might just receive a normal pop-up notification.
As of last year, Google says Android’s earthquake alert system has detected more than 18,000 earthquakes worldwide and sent more than 2,000 alerts. This feature means that at least 2.5 billion people around the world have access to an earthquake early warning system, even if nothing is implemented at the government level.
This isn’t something you can currently get on iPhones, though, not even with a Google app. What iOS can do is deliver official warnings from authorities, including earthquakes: in Settings, tap Notificationsand you will see toggle switches for Extreme alerts And Serious alerts.
It’s unclear how many deaths or injuries were prevented by the Android alert system in the case of the Venezuela earthquake, but it appears that millions of people were alerted at least a few seconds in advance that something was about to happen.
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