Twitter, NDRMC, and Google Alerts: How to Get Earthquake Alerts

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(SPOT.ph) Whenever earthquakes happen in the dead of the night, people may or may not feel it depending on how strong the movement is or how deep you're into your REM sleep. For those who felt the bed shake, there's always that ever dependable platform to confirm whether what just happened is a full-on earthquake: Twitter. And when a magnitude 5.7 quake struck Occidental Mindoro on Monday morning, 1:12 a.m., #EarthquakePH started trending as the movement was felt in many parts of Metro Manila.

Here are some of the most relatable tweets about this morning's earthquake:

[twitter:https://twitter.com/notkennyaranas/status/1442176768006234120]

It is what it is.

[twitter:https://twitter.com/iskarleett/status/1442176402791354370]

"Lumindol ba?", that is the question.

[twitter:https://twitter.com/RamilGKnows/status/1442286033203130372]

Nothing like an earthquake to wake you up.

[twitter:https://twitter.com/oreogeologist/status/1442177206428397568]

According to another tweet by geologist Mahar Lagmay, it takes about 20 minutes to know an earthquake's epicenter. Still, we kept refreshing Phivolcs' pages.

[twitter:https://twitter.com/somosot_keisha/status/1442177152787439618]

That's so meta!

[twitter:https://twitter.com/AteConsolacion/status/1442177667462168577]

Aside from Twitter, chandeliers can also confirm an ongoing quake.

While Twitter is great to confirm our collective worries, there are other dependable ways that can notify you of ongoing seismic activity in your area. National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, for example, started issuing emergency mobile warnings after the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act was signed into law in 2014. They send constant alerts about heavy rainfall and earthquakes, complete with Purge-like warning sounds.

How to Turn on Your NDRRMC Alerts

• For Huawei Android users, go to Settings > Sounds & vibration > More sound settings > Cell broadcasts. You can enable the alerts and customize the vibration and volume.
• For Samsung Android users, go to Settings > Notifications > App notifications > Messages.
• For iOs users, head to Settings > Notifications. Scroll to the bottom and enable Emergency Alerts.

Google also launched the Android Earthquake Alerts System, which became available in the Philippines in June. This system depends on your Android smartphone's built-in accelerometers to detect seismic activity. To confirm validity of movement, your phone sends a signal to Google's server and collates it with other similar signals to zone in on where the earthquake is happening, and a corresponding magnitude.

How to Turn on Your Google Earthquake Alerts System

1. Go to the Location tab on your Settings.
2. Tap on Earthquake Alerts with the Google icon.
3. Enable Earthquake Alerts.

To get alerts, your WiFi or mobile data as well as Location must be turned on.

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Source: Spot PH