Google is adding the earthquake system in California as part of its Android operating system for mobile phones, the company said Tuesday.
The feature means that the state of the earthquake will be piped into phones with the Android system without the need to download a separate app.
Govin Gavin Newsom welcomes the addition of the feature, which requires technology managed by the U.S. Geological Survey.
“It’s not every day that Silicon Valley looks to the government for … innovation, but that’s exactly what is happening today,” Newsom said in a statement. “This announcement means that California’s world-class earthquake early warning system will be a standard feature on every Android phone – giving millions of precious seconds to fall, cover and hold as the Big One strikes.”
Earthquake early warnings can also be accessed on Apple’s iOS system and the Android system via apps like MyShake, developed by UC Berkeley; Early Warning Labs’ QuakeAlertUSA app; and, for LA County residents, ShakeAlertLA, developed by the City of Los Angeles.
Early earthquake alerts are also sent by text messages using the Wireless Emergency Alert system, which provides alerts via Amber Alert-style text messages. But they can be slower than the apps.
The early earthquake warning system works on a simple principle: An earthquake shaking travels at the speed of sound through rock – slower than the speed of today’s communication systems. For example, it would take more than a minute for an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 that started at Lake Salton to shake Los Angeles, 150 miles away, and traveled along the state’s longest debt, the San Andreas.
Other nations, including Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Turkey, already have operating systems. In Japan, early warnings are a part of life: School children are trained to fall, cover and hold when they hear alarms; TV shows are interrupted by a familiar chime and an announcement giving details about the expected shake-up; and phones automatically send out audible alerts.
Earthquakes should be at least 4.5 magnitude for the USGS ‘ ShakeAlert system to be considered as sending alerts to devices that see at least weak shaking, such as intensity level 3, on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale.
Level 3 shake on the Changed scale of Mercalli intensity is defined as being felt quite noticeably by people inside, especially on the upper floors of a building, and can cause standing motor vehicles to rock slightly. Some may think that the shaking is due to the vibrations that felt like a heavy truck passing by.
Institutions in California have launched earthquake warning systems that rely on the USGS ShakeAlert system, including the Bay Area BART shuttle system and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority designed to carry trains before the shaking arrives; public address systems in some buildings, e.g. LA City Hall and a 19-story condom tower in Marina del Rey, are wired to warn residents of incoming shaking through a public address system.
Such a system has been installed by Early Warning Labs at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where an audible warning is programmed to go out before shaking, saying: “Earthquake, earthquake. Expect shaking. Drop, cover and stop “Protect yourself now.”
Hospital staff were trained on how to respond to the warnings, and staff went through drilling.
