Share your pictures with EMSC from your smartphone
Example of pictures of damages provided by a witness of an earthquake (M8.8 earthquake that struck Chile on 27th February 2010).
The EMSC is experimenting with an application called RICHTER (Rapid geo-Images for Collaborative Help Targeting Earthquake Response) for Android mobile phones that allows earthquake eye-witnesses to easily and freely share their pictures of resulting damage with the EMSC (see examples on the right). The goal is to quickly characterize the impact of an earthquake and provide a portal for rapid visual assessment.
Using RICHTER is very easy. Simply start the RICHTER application and then take pictures of the earthquake damage or effects. RICHTER can automatically geo- and time- reference the photos you take. Geo-reference can be via built-in GPS when you are outside, or via the mobile networks directly, even many places inside. Once location is automatically determined, it will be embedded with exact time into the picture file. You only have to press one button to send both the picture and the geo-referencing information (time and position) to the EMSC. After validation, the collected pictures are then published on EMSC web site.
RICHTER will compress the pictures to use less than 30 KBytes of data, so transfer will be fast, not overload networks and low cost. However, sometimes photos contain information where we would wish to study it in the best quality. We may therefore request the full size image in these certain cases. This process is currently automatic and transparent for you, but you will be notified by SMS if this is requested.
The use of RICHTER is free of charge.
Download the RICHTER application via qrcode
Download the RICHTER application.
Before installing the application on your phone, make sure you have enabled "Allow non-market applications" under Settings -> Applications
RICHTER currently runs on Android mobile phones and is developed by AnsuR Technologies in Norway.
Terms of use
1. By submitting any contribution (including any text, photographs, video or audio) with the EMSC you agree to grant to the EMSC, free of charge, permission to modify and adapt your material for publication on the EMSC web site.
2. You retain the copyright for any contribution. The permission granted to the EMSC is not exclusive, so you can continue to use the material in any way including allowing others to use it.
3. In order that the EMSC can use your contribution, you confirm that your contribution is your own original work, is not defamatory and does not infringe any laws, that you have the right to give the EMSC permission to use it for the purposes specified above, and that you have the consent of anyone who is identifiable in your contribution or the consent of their parent / guardian if they are under 16.
4. The material you provide to the EMSC is always manually reviewed eye before publication on the EMSC web site. Only pictures relating to the earthquake phenomenon will be published.
5. Please do not endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or break any laws when creating content that you may share with the EMSC.
6. If you do not wish to grant the EMSC the permission specified above in these terms, please do not submit your photos or share your contributions with the EMSC.
7. If you have any questions about contributing content to the EMSC, please contact us the EMSC at
Privacy
1. Personal information such as your IP address, email address or telephone number are collected together with the pictures you submit through the application. This personal information will be kept strictly confidential and will never be sold or shared with any third parties.
2. IP addresses are used to identify the location of users, to block disruptive use and to establish statistics on the use of the application by the users.
3. The EMSC may contact you by email about a submission you have made, including any content you provide.
4. The EMSC will not contact you by phone for marketing purposes, or to promote new services or activities.
5. According the French law 78-17 "Informatique et libertes", you have the right to acces, modify or delete all the personnal information about you that the EMSC collected.
Testimonies, photos