Google recognizes the failures of its earthquake alert system

February 6, 2023 was a dark day for Turkey. In addition, Two earthquakes killed more than 55,000 people. Similarly, The event also illustrates the failure of Google. Similarly, the seismic alert system integrated into Android, which could have saved lives if it had worked normally.

After assuring that his earthquake alert system had worked normally, Google had to face the facts. Additionally, Similarly, The Android Earthquake Alerts (AEA) technology has not effectively warned the people in southeast Turkey. Similarly, which suffered a catastrophic seismic episode on February 6, 2023.

An alert sent 35 seconds before the earthquake

The first earthquake, of a magnitude of 7.8. However, has not been the subject of a wide dissemination of the alert “act immediately” (“Take Action”), which is the highest level of AEA. In fact. a survey of the BBC has shown that this notification, google recognizes failures its earthquake very noisy and bypassing the “not disturbing” function, had only been sent only 469 smartphones, 35 seconds before the event. In an area of 10 million people living less than 160 km from the epicenter of the earthquake …

Reading the Google earthquake detection system would have been ineffective in Türkiye

Google has announced that only 500. 000 people had received an alert “Be attentive” (“Be Aware”, on the left below), less visible and designed for light jerks. The first earthquake that took place at 4:17 am, many victims were still sleeping. A notification “Take Action” (on the right below) widely disseminated to the population would probably have made it possible to save lives. the few seconds of stay before the episode could be enough to get out of a building or to take shelter.

It is precisely for these situations that the AEA system has been designed: detect the vibrations upstream and send a clear and immediate alert. But Google algorithm has heavily underestimated the intensity of the earthquake. as confirmed by a study of researchers from the company. AEA technology assessed the first earthquake to a google recognizes failures its earthquake magnitude of 4.5 to 4.9 instead of 7.8. Result: the majority of phones have not received the appropriate alert.

The search engine has changed its algorithm and simulated the first Turkish earthquake. Result: the system generated 10 million “Take Action” alerts, and 67 million notifications “Be Aware”. “” All early alert systems for earthquakes come up against the same problem: adjusting algorithms for high magnitude earthquakes. “Said Google at the BBC.

The company also explains that its technology, which operates in a hundred countries, cannot replace state prevention systems for earthquakes. However. some countries are based a lot on AEA, the particularity of which is to exploit the accelerometers integrated into millions of Android smartphones to detect the characteristic vibrations of earthquakes in real time.

🔴 To not miss any 01net news, follow us on Google News and Whatsapp.

Source : BBC