Russia Earthquake: Five iPhone Apps That Can Potentially Be Life-Savers

A powerful, magnitude-8.8 earthquake hit Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula early morning today, triggering tsunami warnings in the US, Japan, the Philippines and other nations. 

With various regions of the globe prone to seismic activity, here’s a look at five iOS apps that provide early earthquake alerts, with some even offering tsunami information.

The app provides a worldwide earthquake map, news, and alerts regarding a seismic event. Its free version includes features such as regional earthquake alerts, 3D globe map, and fault lines map layer, with data collected from government agencies, and even connects to tsunami.gov. Its premium subscription also features smoke forecast map layer, shaking intensity, and historical earthquake data dating back to 1900.

MyShake is a free mobile app that offers early earthquake warnings and safety guidance, created by the Seismology Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. It leverages smartphone sensors to sense ground movement and send alerts to users in regions impacted by earthquakes, potentially granting them a few valuable seconds to perform protective actions. The application also includes an earthquake map, safety recommendations, and the option to engage in a global seismic network by sharing data from your phone’s sensors.

Based on a crowdsourced Earthquake Early Warning network, the Earthquake Network app works to alert users before the seismic waves hit a particular area. Once an earthquake is identified, the app notifies all smartphones within the affected area. The aim is to warn individuals who are located far from the epicentre so they can take cover or safety measures before the seismic waves arrive.

My Earthquake Alerts is a powerful application designed to track seismic activity, delivering vital information via push notifications. It includes a real-time map of earthquakes globally, as well as historical data and details about the location, depth, and distance of quakes from the user, providing a well-rounded overview of past and present earthquakes.

Created by seismologists, LastQuake is a free mobile app aimed at collecting real-time testimonies during an earthquake and alerting communities. It collects information from witnesses who experience an earthquake firsthand through a questionnaire, along with photos and videos, and shares with the wider population. With the active participation of its users, the app helps assess the impact of earthquakes and inform the public within just a few minutes.