Google admits it failed to warn 10 million of Turkey earthquake

Google admitted that the earthquake early warning system did not correctly warn people during Türkiye’s 2023 deadly earthquake.

In 98 miles of the central base, ten million people could be sent to Google’s top -level warning – up to 35 seconds to find security.

Instead, only 469 “Movement” warnings were sent for the first 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Google, BBC’e half a million people designed for “lighting” designed for a lower -level warning was sent and users did not warn the same way, he said.

The technology giant told the BBC that the system “well performed”.

The system works on Android devices that make up more than 70% of the phones in Türkiye.

On February 6, 2023, when two major earthquakes reached Southeast Türkiye, more than 55,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 people were injured. Many were asleep in the buildings that collapsed when they trembled.

Google’s Early Warning System was in force and lived on the earthquake day – but underestimated how strong the earthquakes were.

“We continue to develop the system according to what we have learned in every earthquake,” a Google spokesman said.

Google’s system, called Android Earthquake Warnings (AEA), can detect rinse on a large number of mobile phones using the Android operating system.

Since earthquakes move relatively slowly on earth, a warning can be sent.

Google’s most serious warning is called “action take” that covers the screens – and does not bother the setting – and the “action that gives the setting on a user’s phone.

This is a warning that must be sent to people when a stronger shaking that may threaten human life is detected.

AEA has a less serious “awareness” warning designed to inform users about potential lighter shaking – do not disturb a warning that does not invalidate a device.

Take Action Alert was particularly important because it was hit by a disaster tremor in Türkiye and the first earthquake was hit when many users were going to sleep on 04:17. Only more serious warning would awaken them.

In the months after the earthquake, the BBC wanted to talk to users who were given this warning – initially aimed to exhibit the effectiveness of technology.

However, despite the fact that he talked to people in the towns and cities in the region affected by the earthquake, we could not find anyone who received a more serious movement notification before the earthquake. We published our findings later that year.

Google researchers referred to as “limitations for detection algorithms” and wrote details about what’s going wrong.

For the first earthquake, when the system was actually 7.8, he predicted to tremor between 4.5 and 4.9 on a size scale (MMS).

Later in the day, a second major earthquake was underestimated, this time the system sends action warnings to 8,158 phone and warnings against less than four million users.

After the earthquake, Google’s researchers changed the algorithm and simulated the first earthquake again.

This time, the system gets 10 million movement warnings to the most risk areas – and be aware of 67 million more than the central base.

Google, BBC’ye told, “Each earthquake early warning system is struggling with the same difficulty – algorithms for large -sized events.”

However, Elizabeth Redy, an assistant professor at the Colorado Mining School, says that getting this information lasts for more than two years.

He said, “I was really disappointed because it took too long.”

“We’re not talking about a small incident – people are dead – and we didn’t see a performance of this warning as we wanted.”

Google says the system should be complementary and does not replace national systems.

However, some scientists worry that countries create a lot of beliefs in unloved technology.

“I think it is absolutely critical to be very transparent about how well it works,” Harold Tobin, Harold Tobin, Director of the Pacific Northwest Network, said. He said.

“Do some places make the calculation of Google?”

Google researchers say that post -incident analysis has improved the system better and AEA has published warnings in 98 countries.

The BBC asked Google how AEA performed during the 2025 earthquake in Myanmar, but has not yet received a response.