After a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in April shook up residents, as well as their confidence in a government warning system, an app that monitors quakes has surged in popularity, created by two students who hope some day to build predictive technology that would be critical to saving lives.

Taipei

After a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in April rattled Taiwan and continued seismic activity shook the confidence of residents in the government's warning systems, a student-developed app for monitoring earthquakes has seen a dramatic rise in popularity. The app, which displays real-time tremor information across Taiwan, including intensity and authorities' reports, was created by two students, 17-year-old Lin Rui and 20-year-old Kuo Chanyu. Inspired by a desire to study earthquake intensity on the island, they founded the app in 2022, incorporating data from over 130 seismic sensors they installed across Taiwan.

Lin and Kuo's initiative aims to provide earlier earthquake alerts than the Central Weather Administration, Taiwan's meteorological body. This has caught the attention of many in Taiwan, with the user count of their disaster prevention platform soaring from 3,000 to 370,000 in recent weeks. The government's system, which relies on sending text alerts and making a loud noise on residents' phones at the onset of significant tremors, has faced criticism for its inconsistency. On April 3rd, it failed to activate in Taipei for a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on the island's remote east coast, sparking concerns over the system's effectiveness.

Despite the government alert system being designed to notify those in areas experiencing severe shaking (intensity of four or above), there have been calls to lower the threshold for alerts. Wu Jianfu, director of the seismological center at the Central Weather Administration, acknowledged these demands. He highlighted the balance between satisfying public opinion and maintaining an effective disaster prevention strategy, suggesting a review of the alert system to possibly include lower intensity earthquakes. Wu also supported research and development of additional tools for disaster response, acknowledging their potential to enhance early warning efforts.

The driving force behind Lin and Kuo's work is their ambition to eventually predict earthquakes, possibly up to ten days in advance. While acknowledging that such technology does not yet exist, Lin expresses hope for the future, emphasizing the potential for advance alerts to save lives by providing more preparation time for affected populations.



Student-made quake app surges in popularity in Taiwan

Demand is growing across Taiwan for homegrown earthquake monitoring apps, after the island experienced its strongest earthquake in a quarter of a century in April, and then more than 1,300 tremors and aftershocks continued to rattle Taiwan over the past month. This app, showing tremors in real time across Taiwan, their intensity, as well as information from the authorities is the creation of students 17-year-old Lin Rui and 20-year-old Kuo Chanyu. They were driven to create it in 2022 by their own curiosity to study the intensity of earthquakes on the island. On top of using data from Taiwan's authorities, Lin and Kuo's team installed more than 130 seismic sensors across the island. And because of these sensors, Lin says there's a chance they can provide an earlier quake alert compared to Taiwan's meteorological body, the Central Weather Administration. In recent weeks, users of the students' disaster prevention information platform jumped from 3,000 to 370,000. While there's a government-run system already in place that sends text alerts and a loud noise to residents' phones when the shaking starts, it can be patchy. It drew criticism for not sounding in Taipei on April 3rd, when a 7.2 magnitude quake hit the island's remote east coast. The alert only goes out to phone users in areas with serious shakes, an intensity of four or above, which authorities say are more likely to bring damage or disrupt power or water supplies. Wu Jianfu, director of the Central Weather Administration's seismological center, told Reuters he's aware of calls to lower thresholds for official alerts, but the authorities are moving ahead cautiously. We will review the need to send a quake alert to everyone when a major quake hits. For example, when one of magnitude 6.5 hits, should we issue an alert, even though its intensity level is at three, since there is a need for disaster prevention? I think we should discuss the matter of advanced deployment, as it is often quite rare to receive a national-level alert, so it will increase public awareness. I think it's better to conduct a review instead of just trying to satisfy public opinion." However, he encouraged research and development of alternative tools for disaster response, some which offer extra functionalities, such as turning on the torch of a phone before the shaking starts, or alerts for smaller quakes which do not trigger government warnings. For student Lin Rui, he says what he really wants to do is to predict earthquakes, maybe even ten days ahead of one. While that technology doesn't exist today, he hopes it does in the future, and that it buys people precious time and saves lives.

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