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Big Tech's shaky entry into early earthquake detection.

From American public media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Lili Jamali.

Early earthquake detection technology is still in its early days.

Here on the West Coast, those of us who live through LA's deadly Northridgequake in 1994

or further North Loma Prieta in 1989 had no warning.

But three decades later, smartphone apps can notify us seconds or even minutes beforehand.

In California, Oregon and Washington, my shake is among the best known.

It was developed at UC Berkeley and sends an automatic warning to mobile phones based

on data from ground motion sensors.

Until recently, most investment in earthquake warning and detection came from governments.

But as the BBC's Will Bane reports, now private companies want in.

Big tech firms like Google have been leading the way in the last few years in earthquake

detection and alerts.

...