Android’s Earthquake Alert System Stumbles in Turkey: What Went Wrong?

In February, two powerful earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.6 struck Turkey, tragically taking the lives of more than 50,000 people. While predicting earthquakes remains a challenge, early warning systems can detect ground motion and send alerts, giving people precious seconds to prepare and stay safe.

Google integrated an earthquake detection feature into Android devices, aiming to notify users a few seconds before an earthquake hits. However, during the earthquakes in Turkey, this system may have failed to alert many residents.

The Android earthquake detection system relies on the phone’s accelerometer to gather data from multiple devices. By analyzing the collective data, Google can determine the epicenter and magnitude of the quake and then send warnings to those likely to be affected.

According to the BBC, their interviews with hundreds of people in the affected areas revealed that no one received an alert before the initial quake at 4 am. Some individuals did receive a notification before the second tremor, which occurred a few hours later.

Google’s product lead, Micah Berman, asserted that the earthquake detection system did work, but the alerts might have occurred in the background while users were preoccupied with other tasks. However, residents refuted this claim, saying they did not receive any alerts.

Google did provide a list of a few social media posts mentioning earthquake warnings, but only one of them mentioned a warning for the first tremor. Google maintains that “millions” of people in Turkey were notified of the earthquake in February, based on user surveys.

Google clarified that during an earthquake, various factors can influence the reception, notice, and response to supplemental alerts, including the earthquake’s specific characteristics and internet connectivity availability.