Earthquake Stories June 30, 2016
Often times, the quickest way to confirm whether that rumble you felt was an earthquake is by checking Twitter or other social media for posts about it. As people also have a tendency to frantically search the web after major events, Google has added an earthquake card to search results that will provide a quick summary and safety tips.
Earthquake Stories April 27, 2015
T-Mobile & Sprint make calling & texting Nepal free, waive bills to aid earthquake relief efforts
Update: Sprint too.
Many tech companies are attempting to help victims of the devastating Nepal earthquake this week and the latest is T-Mobile. The carrier announced that it’s making calling and texting Nepal free in order to aid relief efforts:
In the wake of the devastating Nepalese earthquake, many T-Mobile customers are trying to stay in touch with their family and friends in Nepal. T-Mobile is making this easier by waiving and crediting fees for all calls and text messages to and from Nepal from Saturday, April 25 through Saturday, May 16. Calling and texting to and from Nepal without charges applies to all postpaid and prepaid customers of T-Mobile, MetroPCS, GoSmart Mobile and Walmart Family Mobile with international calling.
T-Mobile also notes that its customers can text to various charities to make a donation that will be charged to their mobile bill:
Google and Apple have also launched efforts to aid people in Nepal impacted by the earthquake.
Earthquake Stories August 25, 2014
Activity trackers can be a good way to monitor not only exercise but also sleep patterns – and now Jawbone’s UP device seems to have found a third application, as an earthquake tracker. The above graph shows the moment at which the magnitude 6 earthquake hit Napa, California, at around 3.20am … expand full story
Earthquake Stories August 24, 2014
Napa area 6.0 earthquake shown on Google Alerts, now with Twitter feed
A magnitude 6.0 Earthquake has struck North of San Francisco Bay Area near Napa. We hope everyone is ok.
What’s interesting here is that Google’s alert center now includes tweets. It appears that Google is giving up on its own social network to provide near-real-time information and instead relying on Twitter. There’s also a new Google news widget below the tweet feed.
Posted 20 minutes ago – U.S. Geological Survey
An earthquake with magnitude 6.0 occurred near American Canyon, CA at 10:20:44.10 UTC on Aug 24, 2014. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)
Recommended actions
Excerpted from ready.gov
- Expect aftershocks. These secondary shockwaves are usually less violent than the main quake but can be strong enough to do additional damage to weakened structures and can occur in the first hours, days, weeks, or even months after the quake.
- Look for and extinguish small fires. Fire is the most common hazard after an earthquake.
- Be aware of possible tsunamis if you live in coastal areas. These are also known as seismic sea waves (mistakenly called “tidal waves”). When local authorities issue a tsunami warning, assume that a series of dangerous waves is on the way. Stay away from the beach.
- Be careful when driving after an earthquake and anticipate traffic light outages.
- More:
- What to do after an earthquake.
