A New Earthquake Warning System Comes to California, Powered by Google

谷歌研发新地震警报系统，手机秒变地震仪

 

Android phones will be used to sense earthquakes around the world and may one day be able to provide global warnings, with the first mass alert system unveiled Tuesday in California, Google announced.

 

谷歌宣布，安卓手机将能用来感知世界各地的地震，也许有一天还能给全球发出地震警报，首个大众警报系统于8月11日在美国加州上线。

 

Google, which helped develop Android, worked with California and the US Geological Survey to build the quake alerts into all phones that run the commonplace mobile operating system. Android users who have enabled location services and are near a quake of magnitude 4.5 or greater will receive a full-screen earthquake warning telling them to drop to the floor and seek cover.

 

安卓手机的研发公司谷歌与加州和美国地质调查所合作，在所有运行安卓操作系统的手机中植入了地震警报系统。开通了定位功能的安卓用户在4.5级以上地震来临时将收到全屏显示的地震警报，告知他们伏在地上，寻找掩护。

 

The screen also will provide estimates of the quake’s magnitude and distance from the user. Depending on their distance from a quake, people could get several seconds or perhaps a minute of warning.

 

手机屏幕还会显示预估的震级以及地震发生地与用户的距离。根据与震中的距离远近，人们可以收到数秒或一分钟的警报。

 

Users won’t need to download California’s MyShake app in order to receive the alerts. That application, developed by the University of California, Berkeley and launched last year, has been downloaded by only about 1 million of California’s 40 million residents. By contrast, many millions of people own Android phones.

 

加州州长加文·纽森在一份声明中称：“这一公告意味着加州的世界级地震预警系统将是每个安卓手机的一个标准功能——给数百万人争取宝贵的时间在地震来袭时伏地、找遮挡，并坚持到底。”

 

“This announcement means that California’s world-class earthquake early warning system will be a standard function on every Android phone – giving millions precious seconds to drop, cover and hold on when the big one hits,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

 

用户无需下载加州的MyShake应用就能收到警报。加州大学伯克利分校研发并于去年推出的这款应用只有大约100万加州居民下载过，而加州人口共有4000万。相比之下，拥有安卓手机的人达数百万。

 

IPhone users won’t receive the alerts through Apple’s operating system, but they can download the MyShake app.

 

苹果手机用户不会通过苹果操作系统收到警报，但他们可以下载MyShake应用程序。

 

Also Tuesday, Google announced that Android phones will begin detecting earthquakes from around the world through their motion-sensing accelerometers.

 

谷歌当日还宣布，安卓手机将开始通过动作感应加速器来感应世界各地的地震。

 

“Your Android phone can be a mini-seismometer, joining millions of other Android phones out there to form the world’s largest earthquake detection network,” according to a Google blog post.

 

谷歌的一条博文中写道：“你的安卓手机可以作为一个小型地震仪，和其他数百万安卓手机连在一起形成全世界最大的地震监测网络。”

 

More than 2 billion devices run the Android operating system.

 

超20亿手机用户使用安卓操作系统。

 

Hundreds of millions of people live in earthquake-prone areas. But many countries lack the resources to build detection and alert systems, Google said.

 

谷歌称，数以亿计的人生活在地震多发地区，但许多国家没有足够的资源来建立监测和警报系统。

 

The information will be used at first to provide fast and accurate information on Google Search. But Google said it could begin sending out earthquake alerts next year.

 

这些信息将首先被用来在谷歌搜索中提供快速准确的信息，但谷歌表示明年可能开始发送地震警报。

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