Xiaomi Trials Earthquake Early Warning Feature in Indonesia

A technology company from China, Xiaomi, is testing a beta feature for early warning of earthquakes via cell phones in Indonesia. Earthquake warning notifications will appear a dozen seconds after a secondary earthquake wave arrives.

"Through this initiative, we hope can help Indonesian citizens through CSR activities as a company that has a social responsibility," said Xiaomi's head in Indonesia, Alvin Tse, in a press release, quoted Friday, April 1, 2022.

The early earthquake warning feature from Xiaomi will notify you via your cellphone a dozen seconds before the secondary wave arrives, taking advantage of the speed of the electric wave. When this feature is turned on on a Xiaomi phone, after the authorities detect an earthquake, the system will synchronize the early warning information to the Xiaomi server through a special channel.

Xiaomi said they used priority channels to provide early warning to users in disaster-affected areas. A notification will appear on the cellphone if the earthquake reaches the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) IV scale used by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency.

Earthquake early-warning on Xiaomi phones will display the scale (magnitude) of the earthquake, estimated arrival, and intensity of the earthquake. The phone screen will also display a countdown.

This feature can be used on Xiaomi phones that use the MIUI 12, MIUI 12.5, and MIUI 13 operating systems. Earthquake early-warning requires a connection to internet data.

This trial was held before Xiaomi decided to bring this feature to Indonesia. The EEW technology used was developed by the Institute of Care-Life in Chengdu, China, in 2008. Xiaomi is working with the agency to bring this feature to their phones in China.