The Gifted Four were sitting comfortably in the WiggleHouse Cafe, waiting for hot chocolate. Verum sighed and looked at Orak helplessly, “I know you’re a techie, but no tech talks when we are together!”
“But this is an important one,” replied Orak, “Recently, Google’s Earthquake Alert System missed sending an alert message to its users in Turkiye and the earthquake struck the region.”
“What? How can Google send alerts? It’s just a search engine,” said a worried Scorch.
“You’re correct. Google is the world’s most popular search engine. But there’s more to this search engine. In 2021, Google’s introduced its Earthquake Alert System in Turkiye. But this system failed to send the alert in February this year!” Orak paused as Verum’s jaw dropped.
“Oh! No! Is the system slower or was there a technical error?” she said.
“Let me explain. Smartphones have meters that can detect ground shaking and Google uses the vast network of Android phones to predict earthquakes and notify people. The internet speed is faster than the earthquake waves under the Earth. Experts say the system probably did not work as quickly as expected.”
“How can people rely on alerts?” Felix expressed his concern.
“Earlier, before the advancement of technology, people did not rely on alerts. But this system from Google can be of great help and save lives. However, for the recent error, Google will have to answer soon.
Do you guys know that it was one of the biggest earthquakes in 100 years in Turkiye, and around 50,000 lives were lost?” Orak said.
“I hope they find the root of the problem and fix it very, very, very soon,” Scorch prayed. The Gifted Four then spent the rest of their afternoon studying such alert systems over cups of hot chocolate.