Earthquake

Terms of Service

This software and its notification service are provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, reliability, usefulness of any information provided.

Conclusions drawn from the data, or actions undertaken on the basis of its contents, are the sole responsibility of the user.

Notifications are not available for all earthquakes (even when the event parameters are available within the app) and they are delayed. There is no guarantee that a notification will actually be delivered. Also, the device may not be able to receive push notifications at all times.

BY USING THIS SOFTWARE OR SERVICE, WHETHER IN THE FORM OF A MOBILE APP OR OTHERWISE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ALL OF THESE TERMS. YOUR USE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

GEOLOCATION

When in use, the application can send your approximate location to the backend servers (a random error of ±500m is introduced before the location leaves the device). These location data are processed only to provide you with relevant information (for example: earthquakes near you or the approximate locations where a seismic event was felt, etc). The location data are never shared with anyone.

AVAILABILITY AND CHANGES TO THE TERMS OF USE

The author reserves the right to discontinue any or all of the functionalities of this mobile app or to modify these Terms of Use at any time and with no prior warning.

These Terms of Use and any dispute relating to them or to the use of the application are governed by Italian law. Any legal dispute shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Bologna, Italy. This clause applies to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

Data and Notifications based on user-submitted felt reports

App users have the option to voluntarily submit reports about seismic activity they have personally experienced. The aggregated data from these reports is processed on our servers to provide faster information to other users about potential seismic events and where they were most likely felt. User-submitted reports contain approximate locations with a 500-meter resolution; exact locations are not collected or shared.

Please note that this information is based solely on subjective reports from users and is not verified through seismic instruments or by any independent authorities. As a result, these reports may be inaccurate, incomplete, or entirely incorrect. The app does not guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of any information provided, including user-submitted reports. Users are advised to rely on official seismic data sources for verified and scientifically accurate information.

Users can opt in to receive notifications based on these reports. Additionally, they have the option to disable the display of user-submitted reports in the earthquake list at any time by adjusting their display preferences in the app settings.

Felt Map Overlay (automatically created)

Felt maps are automatically generated by observing app usage in the following 180 seconds after an event.

When an earthquake is felt, people rush using the app and cause a traffic peak from nearby locations: approximate users' locations, blurred to within 500 meters of their smartphone's actual location, are processed on our servers to generate the heatmap of areas where the earthquake has probably been felt.

When in use, the application can send your approximate location to the backend servers (a random error of ±500m is introduced before the location leaves the device). There is nothing in the heatmaps that can be tied to an individual user and a user's anonymity is never compromised.

The location data are never shared with anyone and never used for other purposes.

Data Sources

Credit belongs to all involved institutions. Source and/or reporting agency is always shown for each event.

Earthquakes data sources:

  • BGS - British Geological Survey (UK)
  • CEDC - China Earthquake Datacenter (CN)
  • CEIC - China Seismological Network Center (CN)
  • CSN - Centro Sismológico Nacional, Universidad de Chile (CL)
  • CNS - Centro Nacional de Sismología, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD)
  • EMSC - European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre
  • GEOFON - GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (DE)
  • GEONET - GNS Science (NZ)
  • GEOSCIENCE - Geoscience Australia (AU)
  • ICGC - Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (CAT)
  • IGEPN - Instituto Geofísico Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EC)
  • IGN - National Geographic Institute (ES)
  • IGP - Instituto Geofísico del Perú (PE)
  • KRDAE - Boğazi̇çi̇ Üni̇versi̇tesi̇ Kandi̇lli̇ Rasathanesi̇ ve Deprem Araştirma Ensti̇tüsü (TR)
  • AFAD - Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (TR)
  • SNSN - Svenska nationella seismiska nätet, Uppsala Universitet (SE)
  • SGC - Servicio Geológico Colombiano (CO)
  • CIVISA - Azores Seismovolcanic Information and Surveillance Center (PT)
  • NORSAR - Norwegian Seismic Array (NO)
  • CWA - Central Weather Administration (中央氣象署) (TW)
  • PHIVOLCS - Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PH)
  • RSPR - Red Sísmica de Puerto Rico (PR)
  • IMO - Icelandic Meteorological office (IS)
  • INETER - Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (NI)
  • INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (IT)
  • IRIS - Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology
  • ISC - International Seismological Centre
  • NRCAN - Natural Resources Canada (CA)
  • NSC - National Seismological Center (NP)
  • SED - Swiss Seismological Service (CH)
  • SSN - Servicio Sismológico Nacional (MX)
  • UOA - University of Athens (GR)
  • BMKG - Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (ID)
  • VMGD - Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-hazards Department (VU)
  • DMH - Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (MM)
  • GII - The Geophisical Institute of Israel (IL)
  • USP - Centro de Sismologia (BR)
  • USGS - United States Geological Survey (US)
  • KNMI - Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut
  • RéNaSS - Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique
  • FUNVISIS - Fundación Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismológicas (VE)
  • IGEO - Institute of GeoSciences (AL)
  • INPRES - Instituto Nacional de Prevencion Sismica (AR)
  • KMA - Korea Meteorological Administration (KR)
  • GEOSPHERE - Bundesanstalt für Geologie, Geophysik, Klimatologie und Meteorologie (AT)
  • KNDC - Kazakhstan National Data Center (KZ)
  • TMD - Meteorological Department of Thailand (TH)
  • IPMA - Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (PT)
  • JMA - Japan Meteorological Agency (JP)
  • GSRC - Unified Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RU)

Tsunami bulletins data sources

  • NOAA's National Weather Service

National Tsunami Warning Center
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

Plate tectonics

  • USGS - United States Geological Survey (US)
  • Orogens are from the World tectonic plates and boundaries dataset -
data source and credits: Hugo Ahlenius, Nordpil and Peter Bird

Geographic and Demographic Data Sources:

  • Population Density map tiles layer are from Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4) - UN-Adjusted Population Density, v4 (2015) Center for International Earth Science Information Network - CIESIN - Columbia University. 2016. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density Adjusted to Match 2015 Revision UN WPP Country Totals. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). http://dx.doi.org/10.7927/H4HX19NJ.
  • Population estimates are based on data from GHSL - Global Human Settlement Layer and/or Gridded Population of the World version 4 (GPWv4) datasets. GHSL - Global Human Settlement Layer, GHS-POP, epoch: 2025, resolution: 1km. Pesaresi, Martino; Maffenini, Luca; Freire, Sergio; Politis, Panagiotis; Schiavina, Marcello (2023): GHS-SDATA R2023A - GHS supporting data. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] doi: 10.2905/7520C0F6-A54C-41E7-8F13-1EA3ABFAC320 PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/7520c0f6-a54c-41e7- 8f13-1ea3abfac320. Concept & Methodology: European Commission, GHSL Data Package 2023, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023, ISBN 978-92-68-02341-9, doi:10.2760/098587, JRC133256
  • Built-up surface estimates are based on data from GHSL datasets. Pesaresi, Martino; Politis, Panagiotis (2023): GHS-BUILT-S R2023A - GHS built-up surface grid, derived from Sentinel2 composite and Landsat, multitemporal (1975-2030). European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] doi: 10.2905/9F06F36F-4B11-47EC-ABB0-4F8B7B1D72EA PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/9f06f36f-4b11-47ec-abb0-4f8b7b1d72ea
  • Land-water determination: Karin, Todd. Global Land Mask. October 5, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4066722

Volcanoes

  • Smithsonian Institution - Global Volcanism Program, 2022. [Database] Volcanoes of the World (v. 5.0.0; 1 Nov 2022). Distributed by Smithsonian Institution, compiled by Venzke, E. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW5-2022.5.0

Nuclear power plants

  • GeoNuclearData - The GeoNuclearData database is made available under the Open Database License whose full text can be found at https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1.0/. Any rights in individual contents of the database are licensed under the Database Contents License whose full text can be found at https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/dbcl/1.0/.

Support

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@earthquake.app

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