Operational launch of Quick Earthquake Messages Service for global earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or above on Twitter
14 March 2014
Since its launch on Twitter for trial operation on 11 April 2013, QEM5.0+ has provided more than 2400 quick earthquake messages with most of them issued within 12 minutes after earthquake occurrences. The detection rate reached 90% and there was no false alarm. The performance level is on par with the best services in the world.
Members of the public can now obtain quick notification of the occurrences of global earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or above via the Twitter account "HKO Earthquake M5.0+" at https://twitter.com/HKOEARTHQUAKE5E. The information provided will include origin date and time of the earthquake, magnitude and epicenter location in latitude and longitude, a short description about the reference region for the epicenter location and an URL to Google map indicating the epicenter location. These Twitter messages are compiled and posted by the Observatory's automatic seismic information system without human intervention so as to expedite information release.
The QEM5.0+ service is an extension of a similar service for global earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or above and locally felt tremors (QEM6.0+) officially launched in August 2012 (http://www.hko.gov.hk/whatsnew/d2/wis20120822_e.htm). On Twitter, QEM5.0+ and QEM6.0+ will be disseminated through different accounts. Users can choose to receive notification of earthquake messages of magnitude 5.0 or above or 6.0 or above as required. According to past records, there are on average around 2,000 and 200 earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or above and 6.0 or above respectively every year globally.
| More information about QEM5.0+ can be found at the HKO webpage: http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/equake/hkoqeme5.htm . |
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The Quick Earthquake Messages Service for global earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or above (QEM5.0+) on Twitter of the Hong Kong Observatory