India’s First Earthquake Early Warning Mobile App

Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami has launched the first-of-its-kind earthquake early warning mobile application, named ‘Uttarakhand Bhookamp Alert’. The app has been developed by IIT Roorkee, in association with Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA). Initially, this app was launched as a pilot project only by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, for the Garhwal region. The programme was initially launched as a pilot project only by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences for the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.  Given its pathbreaking achievement and the need of the region, the IITR’s EEW project proposal was further extended by the Uttarakhand government. 

India’s First Earthquake Early Warning Mobile App

Uttarakhand recently launched India’s first early warning mobile application, which can inform users before an earthquake. ‘Uttarakhand Bhookamp Alert’ is the name of the app, which was created by IIT Roorkee. The Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority funded the project.

Features

Seismic Early Warning (EEW), a real-time earthquake information system that can detect the onset of an earthquake, is used in the application. It can send out warnings before major tremors hit a certain location.

Following an earthquake, the software can also assist in locating persons trapped inside a structure. To prevent any loss of life, it disseminates information about the occurrence of an earthquake, as well as the predicted time of arrival and severity at the tremor area.

About the App:

The Uttarakhand Bhookamp Alert is India’s first earthquake early warning app for notifying people about earthquake alerts. Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) mobile app can detect the onset of the earthquake and issue warnings regarding an earthquake occurrence in the neighbourhood and the expected time of arrival and intensity at the location of people trapped inside a structure to prevent any loss of life.

Key points:

• This is the country’s first earthquake early warning mobile app, which can notify users prior to an earthquake. Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to launch an earthquake alarm app as a result of this
• Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority and the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee collaborated on this app

The following are some of the app’s primary features:

• Seismic Early Warning (EEW), a real-time earthquake information system that can detect the onset of an earthquake, is used in this application
• This software will provide early warning of earthquakes 30-40 seconds before they happen, thanks to the installation of 64 sensors across the state
• It can detect earthquakes with a magnitude of 5 or higher on the Richter scale and issue a warning

Significance:

The Uttarakhand Bhookamp alert app will be important for the prompt transmission of information about an earthquake in the area.

• In order to prevent any loss of life, the app will also be able to tell the predicted arrival time as well as the intensity in the area
• The Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) mobile app is also the first app in the world that can track the location of people trapped inside a structure during an earthquake and relay that information to the Disaster Response Force

Working of India’s first earthquake early warning app

The Seismic Early Warning System is a real-time earthquake information system that will identify earthquake start and send alerts.

The speed of seismic waves that propagate after the release of tension from fault movement, according to IIT Roorkee, is the fundamental basis for an earthquake early warning system. 

Shear waves, which travel at about half the speed of primary waves and are far slower than electromagnetic impulses, induce ground shaking during earthquakes. This advantage is exploited by the Earthquake Early Warning System.

The app contains informative videos to guide the user to follow the steps during the earthquakes to save themselves, gives an early warning of damaging earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5 originating in Uttarakhand only, sends the current location in the SOS message, which requires the location of people trapped inside structure permission to be granted. The warning would be issued to the public when the server estimates that the impending earthquake is damaging, while only notification would be issued for non-damaging earthquakes.

Conclusion:

The project was sponsored by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority. It is a pathbreaking achievement for the institute as it is the country’s first application for notifying people about earthquake alerts.

The physical basis for an earthquake early warning system is the speed of the seismic waves, which propagate after the release of stress from fault movement. For receiving an earthquake early warning, all a user has to do is install the app and fill in the necessary information during the installation process. The strong ground shaking is caused by shear waves which travel at about half the speed of the primary waves and much slower than electromagnetic signals. Hence early warning notifications can be sent to a large number of people, and reduce the effect of the earthquake.