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Incident 1546: Google Android Earthquake Alerts System Reportedly Underestimated Kahramanmaraş Earthquake and Failed to Send Urgent Warnings to Millions

Description: During the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake sequence, Google's Android Earthquake Alerts system reportedly estimated the initial magnitude-7.8 earthquake at only magnitude 4.5–4.9. Just 469 users reportedly received its highest-level "Take Action" warning, while approximately 500,000 received lower-level notices; researchers later estimated that roughly 10 million people could have received urgent warnings providing up to 35 seconds to seek safety.
Editor Notes: Timeline notes: The incident date is 02/06/2023. The AIID incident record was created on 06/18/2026.

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Alleged: Google and Earthquake early warning system developers developed an AI system deployed by Google and Earthquake early warning system deployers, which harmed Public safety , People exposed to earthquake hazards , General public of Turkey , General public , Android users in earthquake-affected areas of Turkey , Android users in earthquake-affected areas and Android users.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Smartphone-based earthquake detection systems , Emergency alert systems , Earthquake magnitude estimation systems , Earthquake early warning systems and Android Earthquake Alerts System

Incident Stats

Incident ID
1546
Report Count
4
Incident Date
2023-02-03
Editors
Daniel Atherton

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

Incident Occurrence+2
Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake
Google admits its alert system failed to accurately warn people in Turkey's 2023 quake
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Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake

Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake

bbc.com

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BBC: Google Alerts earthquake notification system did not activate during the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş.

BBC: Google Alerts earthquake notification system did not activate during the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş.

haberturk.com

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Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake: report

Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake: report

turkishminute.com

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Google admits its alert system failed to accurately warn people in Turkey's 2023 quake

Google admits its alert system failed to accurately warn people in Turkey's 2023 quake

androidcentral.com

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Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake
bbc.com · 2023

Google's earthquake warning system failed to get to many Turkish residents before February's deadly tremor, a BBC Newsnight investigation has found.

Google says its alert system can give users up to a minute's notice on their phones before …

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BBC: Google Alerts earthquake notification system did not activate during the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş.
haberturk.com · 2023
AI Translated

ANKARA (AA) - A BBC investigation revealed that Google's "Google Alerts" notification system, which can provide warnings up to a minute before an earthquake, did not activate during the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on February 6th.…

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Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake: report
turkishminute.com · 2023

Google’s earthquake warning system failed to get to many Turkish residents before February’s deadly tremors, a BBC Newsnight investigation has found.

Turkey was shaken by two powerful earthquakes, a magnitude 7.8 and 7.5, on Feb. 6 that whi…

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Google admits its alert system failed to accurately warn people in Turkey's 2023 quake
androidcentral.com · 2025

In a recent BBC report, Google appears to have acknowledged that its earthquake alert system failed to warn users in Turkey about the February 2023 earthquake, which resulted in massive destruction and loss of life.

Ideally, around 10 milli…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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Incident Date:
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