At 1:21 a.m. on March 26, a magnitude-4.2 earthquake struck Yongqing County in Langfang City, in north China’s Hebei Province, at a depth of 20 kilometers. Many residents in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region felt the tremor.
Thanks to China’s advanced Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system, nearly 300,000 people received alerts on their smartphones and other devices before the quake hit. These precious seconds allowed them to take immediate protective actions.
‘I was awakened by an alert on my phone just moments before I felt the shaking,’ said a resident of Beijing. ‘It gave me enough time to get to a safer spot.’
China’s EEW system provides real-time alerts through various digital platforms. Users can enable earthquake alerts by following the China Earthquake Networks Center’s official Weixin account. Huawei smartphones offer built-in EEW functionality under ‘Settings > Security > Emergency Warnings,’ while Apple users can receive alerts through China’s emergency notification system if enabled in settings.
Warnings were also broadcast via television, emergency radio, and network push notifications, helping residents and critical infrastructure like high-speed railways and nuclear power plants to take preventive measures.
Zou Wenwei, director of the Science Popularization Committee of the China Society for Disaster Prevention, explained that the EEW system is most effective within 50 to 200 kilometers of the epicenter. ‘Closer than 50 km, warnings may come too late; beyond 200 km, seismic waves are weakened,’ he noted. ‘Despite its limitations, the EEW remains a vital tool for disaster mitigation.’
By 2021, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region had deployed 1,653 monitoring stations, averaging 11 km apart, with denser coverage in key urban areas. Three regional EEW centers in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei can issue alerts within seconds of detecting seismic activity, strengthening the region’s earthquake preparedness.
No casualties were reported from the recent quake, but the incident has raised public awareness about the importance of early warning systems and their integration with our daily devices. As technology continues to advance, these systems play a crucial role in safeguarding communities.
