High schooler-developed earthquake alert app goes viral

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) An earthquake alert app developed by a Taiwanese senior high school student has gone viral following a magnitude 7.2 earthquake off the coast of Hualien County on April 3.

The "Taiwan earthquake alert," which was launched by independent developer Lin Tzu-yu (林子祐) last summer, has been downloaded 320,000 times so far to top the Apple iOS' free app chart.

The app features an early warning service for Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, Yilan, Kaohsiung and Hualien areas, notifying users of earthquakes seconds to tens of seconds before they are felt.

In addition, users can customize the app to set the location and seismic intensity level at which they want to be warned.

There have been complaints in Taiwan about the government's current earthquake warning system, with many people not receiving alerts on their cellphones when the magnitude 7.2 quake struck.

The Central Weather Administration (CWA) explained that the national-level warning is only issued for quakes with a magnitude above five.

It said the intensity of an earthquake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, also needs to reach 4 on Taiwan's 7-level scale for an earthquake message to be sent.

During an interview with local media Wednesday, Lin said his role as a private developer could complement the government, which often prioritizes caution.

Lin, who spent 18 months developing the software, said he had long wanted to create an earthquake alert after encountering a major temblor as a child.

Lin said the greatest challenge was his lack of knowledge in mobile app programming languages, but he started from scratch and learned through a tutorial series on YouTube.

For any difficulties encountered he turned to Google or developer forums for answers, Lin said.

Lin said he never dreamed the app would be so popular and "didn't expect that without guidance from teachers one can make such a significant contribution to society."

While the original earthquake data is still sourced from the CWA, Lin said he hopes to collaborate with the government in the future to improve data transmission speed and expand usage to a wider range of regions.