Technical glitch

False earthquake alarm wakes Brazilians from sleep

A false earthquake alarm was reported in Brazil on Friday.

(Bild: Dominik Erlinger)

In Brazil, the warning of an earthquake woke many people from their sleep. However, the earth did not shake - it was a false alarm. Google apologized "for the inconvenience" and spoke of a technical glitch.

"We immediately deactivated the warning system in Brazil and are investigating what happened," the company announced. The reason for the false alarm was initially unclear. It reached users of cell phones with the Google Android operating system installed. An earthquake with a magnitude of up to 5.5 was reported near the coast of São Paulo.

However, the civil defense denied the incident: "There were no earthquake-related incidents". Several residents had reported that they had been frightened by the report. In fact, earthquakes are rare in the South American country and are usually not even noticed. Brazil lies on the South American Plate, which is one of the largest tectonic plates. This plate is less active compared to other regions such as the Pacific Ring of Fire.

According to Google, the Android earthquake warning system uses users' cell phones in most parts of the world to detect quakes and send warnings. This detection is carried out with the help of tiny sensors that can detect vibrations that indicate a possible earthquake. The signals, along with a rough indication of where the quake has occurred, are then sent to a server that combines the information from many phones. 

The false alarm affected the Brazilian metropolitan areas of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.