Google’s Earthquake Warning System Failed During Turkey’s 2023 Earthquake

Google admitted that its earthquake early warning system failed to send the appropriate alerts during Turkey’s devastating 2023 earthquake. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, resulted in over 55,000 deaths and many injuries. Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts system, which works by detecting shaking from Android phones, was active on the day of the quake. However, its algorithm misjudged the earthquake’s magnitude, leading to inadequate warnings. Only a small fraction of people received the highest-level ‘Take Action’ alerts, which are supposed to provide crucial warnings up to 35 seconds before the shaking. Despite over 10 million people being within the high-risk zone, only 469 users received the critical alerts. Google’s system did send a lower-level warning to around half a million users, but this did not adequately inform those in immediate danger. Researchers later improved the system’s algorithms after the quake, and it was successfully tested in simulated scenarios. Some experts have expressed concerns that too much reliance is being placed on untested tech, and transparency regarding the system’s performance is crucial. Google has stated that its warning system is designed to be supplementary and not a replacement for national systems.