The next time you get an alert on your Android phone, it might just be life-saving information. Google has announced the expansion of its earthquake alert program, which was previously only available in a handful of states.
Starting today, earthquake alerts are available in all 50 US states and six territories, including American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Minor Outlying Islands.
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Here’s how the alerts work. Since 2020, Google has made earthquake alerts available in California, Oregon, and Washington thanks to a partnership with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), and the USGS’ ShakeAlert system. Those alerts relied on traditional seismometers to detect earthquakes.
The new, more widespread alerts rely on the built-in accelerometers present in many Android phones to bring life-saving information to people in areas without ShakeAlert. The Android Earthquake Alerts System analyzes crowdsourced data to detect weak or light shaking. If an earthquake of 4.5 or greater is detected, Google sends one of two alerts.
A “Be Aware” warning with a message of “Expect light shaking” means light to moderate shaking is potentially on the way. A “Take Action” warning that tells you to immediately seek shelter, drop, cover, and hold means moderate to extreme shaking is possibly on the way. Both alerts offer an estimate of how far away the epicenter of the earthquake is.
When the shaking is over, Google says, you can tap for tips on what to do next.
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If you’d like to opt out of earthquake alerts, you can stop your phone from contributing to earthquake detection by turning off your phone’s Google Location Accuracy. You can also turn off earthquake alerts by going to Safety & emergency, then tapping Location, and then Advanced and Earthquake alerts.
Android’s earthquake alerts may only provide a few seconds of warning, but those are critical seconds in an emergency.
