Google publishes disaster-warning paper citing flood coverage for over two billion people

Google says its disaster tools can give people days of notice for some floods and cyclones, while smartphones can warn of approaching earthquake shaking. On October 15, it published a Crisis Resilience white paper outlining its preparedness work—a stocktake of existing systems and future targets, rather than a new forecasting-product launch.

The publication describes Google’s work with partners and communities to prepare for natural disasters. Its accompanying announcement puts a number on the reach of crisis information: Google says it helped connect people with that information more than 10 million times per day, on average, during 2025.

Forecast windows vary by hazard

For river floods, Google says its forecasting technology provides up to seven days’ notice for more than two billion people across 150 countries. It separately cites up to 24 hours’ notice for urban flash floods. Those are distinct forecasting windows, not a single lead time that applies to every flood.

WeatherNext, its weather-forecasting technology, can predict cyclones up to 15 days ahead, according to Google. Each of these forecast horizons is described as “up to,” rather than a promise of that much notice for every event.

Tracking fires and warning before shaking

Google describes its existing wildfire maps as near-real-time views of fire boundaries. FireSat has a different stated task: detecting and tracking fires as small as a classroom within 20 minutes once the constellation is complete. The satellite capability is therefore a design target, not a completed global service.

Earthquake warnings use another approach. Google says its Android Earthquake Alerts System turns smartphones into a global network that can warn people before shaking arrives. The company says it is expanding the system to more countries and regions.