#Mindanao Earthquake

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has partnered with major telecommunications providers to restore connectivity in Sarangani and other areas affected by the recent earthquake. This morning's 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Looc, Occidental Mindoro, has put the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council's (NDRRMC) SMS alerts in the spotlight as most of them arrived almost an hour late. In the event of an impending tropical cyclone, tsunami, earthquake, or other calamities, Mobile Phone Services Providers are mandated to send out Emergency Alert and Warning Messages at regular intervals as required by the NDRRMC and other relevant agencies; 2. In the case of earthquakes, PHIVOLCS has to collect and validate data before they forward a warning. Versus Google's Android Earthquake Alerts System Following this morning's earthquake, many have compared NDRRMC's alert system to Google's Android Earthquake Alerts System, which arrived in Android phones in the Philippines in June 2021. It basically turns any Android phone into a mini seismometer, joining millions of other Android phones out there to form the world’s largest earthquake detection network. The system uses the tiny accelerometers in smartphones that can sense signals that indicate an earthquake might be happening. If the phone detects something that it thinks may be an earthquake, it sends a signal to Google's earthquake detection server, along with a coarse location of where the shaking occurred. Read more in our articles including "DICT, Telcos deploy free WiFi in Quake-Hit Areas" and "Xiaomi unveils AI Coding Agent with Long-Term Memory".