An earthquake alert that reached thousands of mobile phones in Cuba this Tuesday caused moments of panic in at least nine provinces and led many people to leave their homes and workplaces. Authorities later ruled out the occurrence of an earthquake that could have justified the warning, but left unanswered the main question that arose after the incident: what caused the alarm to appear on so many devices?
The Civil Defense of Cuba confirmed on its Facebook profiles and X that no significant seismic activity had occurred related to the alert.
Dr. Enrique Diego Arango Arias, head of the National Seismological Service and technical deputy director of the National Center for Seismological Research (CENAIS), stated that the warning received by the public did not come from the Cuban seismological authorities.
"The earthquake alarm that was sent to mobile devices in many places across the country has no basis in any officially issued alert," he stated.
The Cuban News Channel even interrupted its regular programming to broadcast the denial and reiterated that the network of CENAIS stations "has not detected the occurrence of any significant seismic activity."
The organization also explained that its 24 stations maintain real-time monitoring of seismic activity and that the recorded behavior was normal.
The question that went unanswered
The official explanations helped to dismiss the existence of a major earthquake, but they did not clarify why thousands of phones received a warning that led many people to believe they were facing a real emergency.
This absence of information prompted immediate questions on the Civil Defense's own social media.
"That's already known; the news would be why the warning was issued," commented a user.
Another person asked, "And why did the alert come? That's the news. Is it about a cyber attack?"
So far, there is no official information linking the episode to a cyber attack, nor has the technical cause of the activation been publicly explained.
The alarm was particularly surprising because, as reported by some users, it was triggered even on phones set to silent mode, a feature characteristic of certain emergency notifications designed specifically to capture the immediate attention of the device owner.
How does the Android earthquake alert work?
The notification is related to the Google Android Earthquake Alerts System, a technology that turns compatible phones into a vast network for earthquake detection.
Android devices are equipped with accelerometers that can detect vibrations. When numerous stationary phones in the same area register signals consistent with the initial waves of an earthquake, that information can be processed to estimate the location and magnitude of the event and send warnings to potentially affected users.
Google warns that the system has limitations and that estimates regarding magnitude and intensity may contain errors.
However, this explanation about the general functioning of the technology does not alone clarify what happened this Tuesday in Cuba.
An earthquake in Ciego de Ávila increases the confusion
Hours after the incident, another element emerged that added confusion to the episode: CENAIS reported that a tremor had indeed been recorded this Tuesday with its epicenter in Ciego de Ávila.
The movement did not cause any material damage or casualties, and according to the available information, it has not been determined to be responsible for the massive alert received on phones.
The timing of both events made it even more important to determine the exact origin of the warning, especially after the authorities insisted that no major earthquake had been detected by the national seismic network.
Cubans took to the streets out of fear of an earthquake
As the first denials began to arrive, the impact of the alarm was already visible in various parts of the country.
Users from Mayabeque, Granma, Holguín, Matanzas, Havana, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba reported receiving the alert, although not all devices reacted in the same way.
In Santiago de Cuba, one of the areas with the highest seismic activity on the island, the warning had a particularly significant impact.
"The people rushed into the street. In Santiago, we have the memory of several earthquakes," recounted a resident.
From Camagüey, another witness stated that "everyone is in the streets," while in Campechuela, Granma, Norge Luis Fernández Ardevol reported that the reaction was to immediately find a safe place: "We also went out to open areas."
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