How Tsunami Shield Works: From Official Monitoring Agencies to Alerts on Your Phone
Natural hazards can develop quickly. Here is how Tsunami Shield monitors official sources, processes events, and delivers timely alerts and preparedness information directly to your phone.
Natural hazards can develop quickly. During significant earthquakes and tsunami events, timely information is essential for helping people stay aware and make informed decisions.
Tsunami Shield was built to help make official hazard information more accessible through a simple, easy-to-use mobile experience. The app monitors recognised scientific and warning organisations and delivers information directly to users through real-time alerts, earthquake monitoring, saved locations, and preparedness tools.
Our goal is simple: help people stay informed, prepared, and connected to reliable information during coastal emergencies.
Why We Built Tsunami Shield
Tsunamis are relatively rare events, but when they occur, information matters. Many people live near coastlines, have family members in coastal regions, travel internationally, enjoy beaches and ocean activities, or simply want greater awareness of natural hazards.
We built Tsunami Shield to help provide a convenient way to access official information and preparedness resources in one place.
Step 1: Monitoring Official Information Sources
Tsunami Shield monitors information published by recognised monitoring agencies and scientific organisations. Depending on the region and available integrations, these may include organisations responsible for tsunami monitoring, earthquake monitoring, coastal observations, and emergency information.
These systems continuously monitor earthquakes, sea-level observations, tsunami activity, and coastal hazards.
Step 2: Event Detection
When significant events occur, monitoring agencies publish information based on scientific observations and analysis. Examples include major earthquakes, tsunami watches, tsunami advisories, tsunami warnings, and significant coastal hazards.
Tsunami Shield continuously monitors available information from these sources.
Step 3: Alert Processing
When relevant information becomes available, the app evaluates event location, event severity, warning status, and affected monitoring regions. The goal is to present information in a way that is simple and easy to understand.
Step 4: Notifications
Depending on your preferences, Tsunami Shield can provide critical alerts for important notifications about significant events, saved location monitoring for the places that matter to you (your home, family members, favourite travel destinations, and coastal communities), and regional monitoring for events affecting regions you choose to follow.
Critical Alerts That Break Through
For warnings or critical events, subscribers receive [critical alert notifications](/blog/why-critical-alerts-matter) that bypass silent mode and Do Not Disturb — ensuring important warnings reach you even while you sleep.
Earthquake Monitoring
Tsunami Shield also provides earthquake monitoring capabilities. Users can view earthquake locations, magnitudes, recent seismic activity, and regional earthquake information.
Earthquake information can provide important context during developing events.
Preparedness Resources
Preparedness is an important part of coastal safety. Tsunami Shield includes resources designed to help users better understand tsunami hazards, warning levels, evacuation concepts, and emergency planning.
Awareness before an event occurs can improve confidence and decision-making during emergencies.
Emergency Information Features
Tsunami Shield also includes emergency information tools designed to support users during significant events. Features may include emergency guidance, important safety information, emergency contact resources, and local assistance information where available.
The goal is to make important information easier to access during stressful situations.
Travel Monitoring
Many people travel regularly to coastal destinations. Using 'Travel Mode' — see our guide on traveling with Tsunami Shield — allows users to monitor areas that matter to them, including destinations they may be planning to visit, such as Hawaii, California, Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, and other supported regions.
This can help travelers remain aware of significant events affecting locations they care about.
Does Tsunami Shield Predict Tsunamis?
No. Earthquakes and tsunamis cannot currently be predicted. Tsunami Shield does not predict earthquakes, tsunamis, or future disasters.
Instead, the app monitors information published by recognised monitoring organisations and presents relevant information in an easy-to-use mobile experience.
About Tsunami Prediction
No technology can predict when or where an earthquake will occur. Tsunami Shield monitors official warning information and delivers it to you as quickly as possible — but preparedness and evacuation planning remain essential.
Why Multiple Information Sources Matter
Natural hazards do not follow national boundaries. Effective monitoring often involves scientific monitoring networks, earthquake information, ocean observations, regional expertise, and international cooperation.
Monitoring information from multiple recognised sources helps improve awareness and resilience.
Who Is Tsunami Shield Designed For?
Tsunami Shield is designed for coastal residents living near beaches and coastal communities, travelers visiting coastal destinations, families wanting to monitor locations important to loved ones, ocean enthusiasts including surfers, boaters, fishers, and beachgoers, and preparedness-minded individuals who value awareness and emergency preparedness.
Why Awareness Matters
Natural hazards can occur with little warning. Although no technology can eliminate risk entirely, access to reliable information can help people understand evolving situations, make informed decisions, follow official instructions, and improve preparedness.
Awareness remains one of the most effective tools for improving resilience.
Final Thoughts
Tsunami Shield was created to help make official hazard information easier to access. By bringing together alerts, earthquake monitoring, location monitoring, and preparedness resources in one mobile experience, the app aims to support awareness and informed decision-making during coastal emergencies.
Reliable information, preparedness, and awareness remain some of the most powerful tools available for improving coastal safety.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Tsunami Shield get its alert information from?
Tsunami Shield monitors information published by recognised scientific and warning organisations, including the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC), United States Geological Survey (USGS), GeoNet New Zealand, Australian monitoring agencies, and the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS).
Does Tsunami Shield predict earthquakes or tsunamis?
No. Earthquake and tsunami prediction is not currently possible. Tsunami Shield monitors information published by official monitoring organisations and presents it in an easy-to-understand mobile experience as quickly as possible.
What locations can I monitor with Tsunami Shield?
You can monitor saved locations such as your home, family members' addresses, and travel destinations. You can also use Travel Mode to monitor destination countries and Global Watch to stay informed about significant events worldwide.
Will Tsunami Shield alerts reach me if my phone is on silent?
Subscribers receive critical alert notifications designed to bypass silent mode and Do Not Disturb settings, so important warnings can reach you even while you sleep.
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