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Internet giant Google is launching an earthquake warning service in India that uses sensors on Android smartphones to detect earthquakes and estimate their intensity, the company said on Wednesday. Google has launched an Android earthquake warning system in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Seismological Center (NSC) in India. "Together with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Seismological Center (NSC), we are launching Earthquake Alerts for Android in India today. With this release, we aim to provide Android users with automatic early warnings in the event of an earthquake in their area," Google said in a blog post. Alarm service is available on Android 5 and up. "Android's earthquake warning system is rolling out to all Android 5 users in India next week," the blog said. The system uses small accelerometers found in Android smartphones that can act as mini-seismometers. "When the phone is plugged in and charging, it can detect the initial phase of an earthquake. If many phones detect an earthquake-like vibration around the same time, our server can use this information to estimate whether an earthquake is likely to occur and the characteristics of the event, such as epicenter and force. Then our server can send alerts to nearby phones," the blog wrote. Internet signals travel at the speed of light, much faster than an earthquake travels through the earth, Google said, so alerts often reach phones a few seconds before a strong shake.
"In India, we have worked closely with the NDMA to provide users with useful safety information about natural disasters such as floods and cyclones in Google Search and Maps. We are proud to continue working with the NDMA and NSC to bring Earthquake Alerts to Android on Android. India ," blog said.
It is already used in many countries around the world to give people early warning of an earthquake, they say.