Being located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, a powerful earthquake originating from the Cascadia Subduction Zone is a real concern of mine. The probability of a 7.1+ Cascadia earthquake occurring in the next 50 years is 37%.
There are two early earthquake warning systems operating in the West Coast of the United States. The Geological Survey maintains a network of seismometers while Google uses the accelerometers within Android devices to create their own system to detect shaking on top of USGS seismometer data. To my knowledge, the only way to receive an early earthquake warning system alert on a de-Googled device is through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which mass sends warnings to any mobile device connected to a cellular network in the affected areas.
A de-Googled device would not be able to access the alert system built into the operating system as Google itself maintains the server. The other alternative to receive an early earthquake warning is the MyShake app developed by the UC Berkeley, but I had no luck with it on my GrapheneOS device. I downloaded it from the Aurora Store, but the app seems to heavily rely on Google Play Services. It immediately crashes upon accepting the terms and conditions.
It is unfortunate that in a potential scenario where precious seconds can make a huge difference between safety and harm, the only current solution for a de-Googled device is to rely on the Wireless Emergency Alerts system. The issue here is that WEA alerts may arrive more slowly than alerts from apps or Google’s built in alert system.
The only other potential solution I discovered is OpenEEW, an initiative by “Grillo, IBM and The Linux Foundation to create low cost, open source, IoT-based earthquake early warning systems (EEWs).” However, this seems to be very much a work in progress project?
This feels like this is in the realm of physical security and that should have priority over privacy and online security. The unhelpful advice would be that you should probably move into a safer place.
A few things come into my mind with the following:
Lets say the community has successfully helped you solve this problem. But what if you receive the alert during in your deep sleep and the phone has lodged itself into the side of the bed where the speaker is significantly obstructed or lets just simply say that you were not able to hear your phone’s alert for whatever reason?
Realistically, how soon can you get to a safe place before land slides or tsunamis happen?
Where did you even get this statistic? I thought earthquake prediction is not a solid science, last I heard? If this is a real genuine concern and I am not entirely convinced it is, you are not the only one residing in the Pacific Ring of Fire - I am as well, but I do get that you don’t want to be part of the fatal statistic, you should definitely get out of there? Also get your loved ones out of there?
Also to my understanding the WEA goes through cell towers’s transmitter of the relevant area. You will get the transmission if your phone is turned on. You will receive it if you are within range.
What about apple users with no google accounts? Do you think they are truly SOL?
I looked this up because it seemed false but it appears to be real. Both the state of Oregon and FEMA have published documents that refer to that probability.
To my understanding, iOS users can opt for the MyShake app, which also uses the USGS’s ShakeAlert system. The UC Berkeley seismology lab claims it does not collect data beyond its sole purpose of detecting and providing notifications for an earthquake occurrence.
In terms of this post, my main concern is just critical redundancy. I would have liked to utilize some form of notification on top of the WEA system, but that is not currently possible on non-stock Android.
In reality, the WEA alert system should likely be enough. Other factors such as the integrity of the soil on top of which the structure you live, work, or are currently at was built (soil liquefaction), and having the necessary emergency supplies are far more critical for how unscathed one will come out in such an event.
A project like OpenEEW seems to be a way forward that does not rely on government infrastructure or utilizing Google services. OpenEEW seems to allow you to create your own EEW server and build your own seismic sensors. However, from their GitHub page, I seriously cannot tell if they are simply inactive or it has been mostly abandoned.
A network of citizen science data that could provide real time notifications for de-Googled devices would be really cool.
The Shake Alert system functions through WEA like Amber Alerts. If you receive Amber Alerts, you should receive a Shake Alert when the time comes. I used to live within a fairly active seismic zone in the PNW and I’ve received a Shake Alert on GrapheneOS exactly one time. The WEA system isn’t automated. It has to be triggered by someone through FEMA IPAWS. This is why a couple years ago all those people in Hawaii got ballistic missile alerts on their phone. A real person triggered the wrong alert during a system test.