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What to know about early warnings for earthquakes
AP News • • technology
Key Points:
- Recent earthquakes from California to Venezuela and Japan triggered millions of mobile phone alerts, providing critical seconds for people to seek safety before shaking began.
- Several countries, including the U.S., Mexico, Japan, and others, have developed Early Earthquake Warning (EEW) systems, while Venezuela lacks a national system but still received some alerts through Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts.
- Google’s system uses crowdsourced data from cellphone sensors to detect seismic activity and has expanded to reach over 2.5 billion users, alerting millions monthly about earthquakes.
- Japan’s advanced EEW system includes underwater sensors to monitor offshore seismic activity, significantly improving warning times for earthquakes and tsunamis since the 2011 disaster.
- Warning times vary based on proximity to the epicenter, with those closest often receiving little to no advance notice, while people farther away gain a few seconds to prepare.
