subject: Earthquake Apps for Your Cell Phone! [print this page] Earthquake Apps for Your Cell Phone! Earthquake Apps for Your Cell Phone!
The USGS estimates that a few million earthquakes rattle our planet in any given year. Most of these go undetected by the average American, due to location and lack of strength, but we need to be more aware of the dangers that rest below us. Last weeks devastation in Japan was abnormally large, but the fact is that earthquakes of this magnitude can happen at anytime. And even more startling for an east coast American like myself, earthquakes of this size can happen almost anywhere.
According to wikipedia.org, the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which stretches through five Southern and Midwest states, has recorded vibrations strong enough to ring church bells in New York City and Boston. In 1811 and 1812, this three month string of quakes produced ground tremors rated at ~7.0 8.6 in magnitude, causing damage through out the eastern United States. Even more startling, the predictions of equally sized or greater earthquakes in the eastern US are mounting as the years pass.
With these potential threats, it is important that we teach our future generations about the worlds rumble zones and earthquake preparedness. Fortunately though, this educational lesson has never been easier to start than it is today. There are numerous earthquake notification apps available in the Apple and Android markets, which can teach our children where these threats may be found.
One application, which can be found free in the Apple App Store, is called Quake Feed.' This program enables users to see exactly where earthquakes are happening, as they happen, through a list or a dotted map. You can zoom in on a particular earthquake and see exactly where the devastation occurred. You can also get statistics on that specific quake, in the form of time, size, depth, distance from your location, and so on.
Have an Android device? Not a problem. Check out a similar app on your Droid X called Earthquake! This app also allows the user to zoom in on a specific quake location and gain access to specifics about the recent natural disaster.
Our world, and specifically the residents of our countries east coast, need to stop being ignorant about the earthquake risks that we face. These notification apps allow their users to see where specific risks lie and they should be on every smart phone in the world, just like cases from cellPIG. Prepare yourself today. OINK!
