How to Get Earthquake Alerts on Your Cell Phone Seconds Before They Happen

Thanks to the accelerometer that mobile phones have, an alert can be generated before an earthquake occurs. GlobeLiveMedia brings different options for any mobile since one of the best known is for those who have the operating system android therefore, there are also alternatives for iPhone.

Notifications arrive seconds before ground motion occurs, during and after, providing information on the magnitude, epicenter and recommendations for what to do in the event of an evacuation.

The tool does not need an Internet connection and must be activated by the user, without the need to install any additional platform, with the possibility of receiving a notification or a sound that warns of what is going on possibly happen.

Here we explain how to activate it and for which devices:

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It is a native function of mobile phones with the system of Google, so you don’t need a third-party app to use or activate it. The only requirement is that the mobile has an accelerometer, a sensor that can detect changes in the movement of the device, such as counting steps. A feature that is present in most modern phones.

To enable it, follow these steps:

– Open the Settings or Configuration menu.

– Look for the Security and emergency option of the smartphone

– If the device allows it, the user can also search for the word “earthquake” in the settings menu to speed up the process.

– In the Security and Emergency menu of the device, you can find the Wireless Emergency Alerts option, which must be entered in one click.

It may interest you: When will the seismic alert be activated from mobile phones?

When the mobile phone detects the telluric movement, it will warn the user a few seconds before it happens via a notification and later it will start a new message with all the information about the magnitude, the epicenter and the recommendations.

However, this feature is not available in all countries as it is up to Google to enable it. In Latin America, it is active for areas with high seismic activity such as Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

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services for devices iOS It is more general in scope, as it is for public, government and emergency safety alerts, which include tremors, as well as rain or missing children.

This function is in all iPhone who have a version of iOS 5 or later, i.e. from iPhone 4s.

To enable it, you need to follow these steps:

– Open Settings.

– Select Notifications.

– Scroll down and select System.

– Look for the Emergency Alerts option and click on it.

– Enable the Earthquake Alerts option by sliding the switch to the right.

When the mobile phone detects an earthquake, it will alert by loud sound to generate an impact on the user, in case he is asleep or busy and does not pay attention to the phone.

For both cases, iOS y android, It is important to note that the availability of seismic alerts depends on the geographic location of the device and information provided by government seismological agencies in that area. Therefore, the function may be active, but the mobile phone does not issue an alert if it does not have the necessary information or does not detect that it is necessary to do so given the magnitude of the movement.