Phones Alerted Millions Before Quakes Shook Venezuela
nytimes.comAmazing tech, but this wrinkle is so frustrating...
> Distance matters. The farther people are from the epicenter, the more likely they are to get an early warning alert, giving them more time to act before the shaking starts. It’s more challenging to get timely warnings to people near the epicenter; those alerts usually arrive when the shaking has already started.
I recall reading some years ago about a study of tornado warnings that showed that every additional minute of warning time had significant value in terms of preventable damage and casualties. Presumably it would be similar for earthquakes, but early detection is a much harder problem.