Google alert for Taumarunui quake sounded like 'bell on the Titanic'

Civil Defence says some people received an alert on their cellphone during Saturday morning's Taumarunui earthquake while others did not because of the way Google works.Kapiti Coast resident Chrissie Blake said her husband's phone pinged not once but twice with the alert, which sounded like "the bloody bell on the Titanic".There are no reports of anyone being injured and only minor reports of damage to buildings after the magnitude 5.9 quake, which struck before 5am.It was centred five kilometres south of Taumarunui.Manawatu Whanganui Emergency Management Group public information manager Jono Galuszka said Android cellphones had an earthquake alerts system that picked up vibrations and sent a signal to Google's servers for cross-checking."Just because someone's phone's shaking doesn't mean it's an earthquake, they could have dropped it, it could have ... been in their car rattling around the boot."The cross-check with nearby phones helped confirm the vibrations were from an earthquake, he said."Rather than just a simultaneous dropping of cellphones across the country."Galuszka said the alert seemed to be sent far and wide, with people reporting receiving it across the North Island from Auckland to Hawke's Bay and Kapiti Coast north of Wellington.Galuszka said it appeared the Google system mapped pretty closely onto what people reported feeling on GeoNet, but warned its accuracy could not be relied on.In Turkey in 2023, it significantly underestimated the 7.8 quake and did not override some people's Do Not Disturb setting, he said.While the alert was a useful tool, it did not replace preparation, Galuszka said."Understanding where you can go to drop, cover, hold. Or if near the coast, long or strong get gone. Understanding all of those things in advance is really what can help keep you safe."Civil Defence said although it had the ability to send an Emergency Mobile Alert (EMA) to all cellphones including Apple and Android, it could not do it before an earthquake and chose not to send one on Saturday morning.Galuszka said earthquakes happened extremely quickly with little to no warning, so by the time Civil Defence had logged the quake and a message was written and sent, the quake would have been and gone.Civil Defence said alerts were only sent when there was significant threat to life, health and/or property.It said while there could be minor damage from the Taumarunui quake, it did not reach the threshold to send an EMA.Civil Defence Manawatu Whanganui said it did not want to overuse the EMA system because it could lead to people ignoring the alerts when they really needed to pay attention to them.