How to enable the Earthquake Alerts System on your smartphone?

Earthquake tremors jolted Delhi-NCR and other parts of Northern India yesterday (October 3). An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 with epicentre in Nepal forced smartphone users to search for the earthquake alert system on their devices. For those who are unaware, Google recently partnered with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Seismology Center (NSC) to bring Android Earthquake Alerts System in India. As the name suggests, the system shares instant alerts on smartphones during an earthquake. The feature is available on most Android phones and needs a few permissions to work properly. Here’s how you can enable the Earthquake Alerts System on your phone in India.

The Android Earthquake Alerts System is available to all Android 5+ users in India. To receive alerts, users must have Wi-Fi and/or cellular data connectivity, and both Android Earthquake Alerts and location settings enabled. Users who do not wish to receive these alerts can turn off Earthquake Alerts in device settings. The system also provides information through Google Search about local seismic events and safety measures when people search for information with queries like “Earthquake near me.”

Each Android smartphone is equipped with tiny accelerometers that can act as mini seismometers. When a phone is plugged in and charging, it can detect the very beginnings of earthquake shaking. If many phones detect earthquake-like shaking around the same time, Google server can use this information to estimate that an earthquake may be happening, as well as characteristics of the event - like its epicenter and magnitude. Then, Google server can send alerts to nearby phones. Internet signals travel at the speed of light, much faster than the propagation of earthquake shaking through the ground, so the alerts often reach phones several seconds before severe shaking does.