ShakeAlert! When Google CEO Sundar Pichai got earthquake alert before anyone else

An earthquake of 4.8 magnitude hit the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday. While many residents felt the earthquake, what has made the headlines is Google CEO Sundar Pichai getting to know about it through an app alert way before anyone else. The alert was sent via a Mobile app named ShakeAlert. It was developed by Google. Many other Android phone users also received the alert via the same app before the area was hit by tremors. Pichai also shared a screenshot of the Android alert on Twitter and wrote, “The alert came just before, felt like a long one, hope everyone is ok." The screenshot shared by Pichai indicated that there was an Earthquake that happened at 11:42 AM.

How does the ShakeAlert app work?

Interestingly, the app is not designed to predict natural disasters, instead it analyses data from state government agencies and third parties. The agencies keep a track of the movement of Tectonic waves and the seismic waves created due to the collision. The ShakeAlert app reads the information and then sends a notification to alert people. The app then records the information and transmits it to other nearby locations at the speed of light, alerting people about the possible earthquake even before the ground beneath their feet actually starts shaking.

What is the ShakeAlert app?

It’s an earthquake early warning (EEW) app that detects significant earthquakes and alerts people about the same before the quake reach es them. It's not an earthquake prediction, but it warns people that an earthquake has started and whether it is imminent or not.