Google recognized that its earthquake alert system largely failed during the 2023 earthquake in Turkey. The company notified the BBC that its Android Earthquake Alert (AEA) feature only issued 469 “Take Action” alerts for the catastrophic 7.8 magnitude quake. Ideally, the alert system could have given 10 million individuals within 98 miles of the epicenter critical seconds to seek refuge. The “Take Action” alert represents the highest warning tier, bypassing the Do Not Disturb setting with a full-screen notification and audible alert sounds. Google reported that it sent half a million individuals the lower-level “Be Aware” alert, which signifies lighter shaking and does not override the Do Not Disturb mode. The initial earthquake struck shortly after 4 a.m., when many were asleep. The fatalities exceeded 55,000, impacting Eastern Turkey and parts of Syria. Google’s alert system employs Android devices as “mini-seismometers” to sense vibrations and communicate the data to Google’s servers. Over 70 percent of devices in Turkey run on Android, so the alert could have reached a wide audience. In 2023, following the earthquake, the BBC spoke with hundreds of Turkish citizens and found no one who received a warning. At that time, Google asserted that the alert system was operational. Google pointed to “limitations to the detection algorithms” that failed to identify the earthquake’s magnitude in a paper published in Science. The paper indicated that researchers simulated the Turkey earthquake using an enhanced algorithm, producing 10 million Take Action alerts and 67 million Be Aware alerts.