Global earthquake detection and warning using Android phones
R. M. Allen, Alexei Barski, Micah Berman, Robert van den Bosch, Youngmin Cho, Xiangqian Jiang, Yun-Ling Lee, Steve Malkos, S. Mostafa Mousavi, Patrick Robertson, Boone Spooner, Marc Stogaitis, Nivetha Thiruverahan, Greg Wimpey
Abstract
Earthquake early-warning systems are increasingly being deployed as a strategy to reduce losses in earthquakes, but the regional seismic networks they require do not exist in many earthquake-prone countries. We use the global Android smartphone network to develop an earthquake detection capability, an alert delivery system, and a user feedback framework. Over 3 years of operation, the system detected an average of 312 earthquakes per month with magnitudes from M 1.9 to M 7.8 in Türkiye. Alerts were delivered in 98 countries for earthquakes with M ≥4.5, corresponding to ~60 events and 18 million alerts per month. User feedback shows that 85% of people receiving an alert felt shaking, and 36, 28, and 23% received the alert before, during, and after shaking, respectively. We show how smartphone-based earthquake detection algorithms can be implemented at scale and improved through postevent analysis.