The Smartphone as a Seismograph.

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Mobile World Congress

The Smartphone as a Seismograph.

During an earthquake, every second counts, in order to get to safety. A new App is supposed to help. The program can also in countries without existing systems to be used.

It is a Saturday, than to 11.56 PM, the earth quake starts. Only a few seconds later crashes in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and in many Parts of the country the first houses, and buried thousands of people under.

The quake, the Nepal and the surrounding countries on 25. April 2015 totally unprepared met, had a strength of 7.8 on the Richter scale. It was the most violent earthquake in Nepal for more than 80 years, more than half a Million houses and apartments were destroyed, at least 9000 people died.

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A few seconds to decide

When the earth starts shaking, then decide, often seconds, about life and death. “Five to ten seconds to make a big difference,” explains Louis Schreier in the DW interview. “That’s enough, to hospitals, to warn emergency responders to prepare for and, ultimately, to save lives.”

Schreier is an engineer and works for the innovation lab, Deutsche Telekom is California’s Silicon Valley operates. Together with the Erdbebenforschern the University of California in Berkeley (UCB), he and his Team developed a program in the near future to help the number of earthquake victims to reduce: the mobile App My Shake.

Officially presented the program on the next Monday, beginning of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The public testing a few days ago already started and is now running a year.

“We especially want to show that a network of Smartphones high-quality signals can record, with those from the professional Frühwarnzentren can keep up,” says Schreier. Because even if the Sensors in the phones are less sensitive, similar alone the mass of Smartphones that Problem again.

Sensors for the detection of earthquakes use

Via the Sensors of the Smartphones measures the App shocks

The principle behind My Shake is simple: Modern Smartphones are full of Sensors. My Shake intervenes constantly to the acceleration sensors of the device, which is otherwise about to Record steps for Fitness Apps, and join in the Background, barely perceptible vibrations.

Correspond to these data the Schwingungsprofil of an earthquake, and not about the Shake in the pocket, then the time, place and the Amplitude of the vibration will be transferred anonymously to a Server of UCB reported and further analyzed. Log at least 60 percent of the Smartphones that are in a certain Radius around the shocks, then the Software of an earthquake.

So far, the App is still not much more than the upcoming quake to recognize. “In the next few years, our System with existing early warning systems are combined”, says Louis Schreier. “With the aim to warn people, even on their phones, and so to save lives.”

Benefits for the society

The innovation lab in California, there are already a couple of years. Funding for the research institution via Bonn’s Telekom Headquarters. “Smartphones are so widely used as no other device in the world,” says Hossam Azrak, spokesman of the Telekom for DW. “The App leverages the existing technology that assists in the early detection of earthquakes and has social relevance.”

In the US state of California, the ground shakes often

Louis Schreier hopes that My Shake, especially in earthquake-prone countries to use, so far no large, professional early-warning system. Nepal would be an example of this. “In essence, we wear the same Sensors with us around like in the state Früherkennungsstationen. Only the cost of our seismic network is much lower, so we build there one where there is none yet.”

Schreier and his Team involve the User actively in your research. Citizen Science is in English, Bürgerwissenschaft. You ask the people on the program to download part of the network and thus to deliver data, the detection rates in the long term increase and existing systems can improve.

“The Public should be part of this project, because it is in their interest”, says Schreier. “This is a program for everyone, because everyone can help.”

Technical Requirements

The program was developed in California and programmed. Alone there were in the last year several thousand earthquakes. Many are hardly noticeable and are also no major damage, but the Region is at risk.

In California, there are enough modern Smartphones and a great network infrastructure, to My Shake in the coming months intensively testing it. This is also a problem of the App considerably: A good network and a modern telephone are prerequisites in order in order to save lives.