Unlike Sundar Pichai, Indians did not receive earthquake alert from Google; here's why

Nepal was hit with two earthquakes in the last 24 hours and strong tremors were felt in India's capital New Delhi and its surrounding areas. As per reports at least six people have been killed and multiple houses have been damaged in Nepal.

With everyone sharing their experience on social media, Indians are wondering why they never received any notification from Google's earthquake alert that gained attention last month for sending out notifications to Californians before the earthquake actually hit.

Google Earthquake

Google had launched the earthquake detection and early alerts feature two years ago in collaboration with United States Geological Survey (USGS) and California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). The feature lets Google send out earthquake alerts to Android devices in California. These alerts are powered by ShakeAlert that uses signals from more than 700 seismometers installed across the state by USGS, Cal OES. California Institute of Technology and University of California Berkeley.

This is why last month Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai Tweeted a screenshot of an Android alert which he received before an earthquake hit California. This gained a lot of interest as a seconds of warning can make a lot of difference as it gives people the time to cover, hold or drop before the earthquake begins.

But installing a ground network of seismometers around the world is not very feasible so sending out notifications before the earthquake without this network is not possible. This limits the features in certain regions and India is yet to get this feature.

How can phones help in detecting earthquake?

Though it is important to note that even Android phones can be a part of the Android Earthquake Alerts System. Which means that your phone can be a mini seismometer in addition to the other Android phones making it a largest earthquake detection network.

All smartphones that detect something that they think may be an earthquake will push out a signal to the earthquake detection server with a location of where the shaking occurred. After collecting this data it combines many photos to check if an earthquake is happening. This will enable Google to share a fast and accurate view of the impacted areas and show relevant resources near the area.