Why do we need an emoji for earthquakes?
Emojis are now in common-use across the world on a variety of technology devices. Some research suggests that emojis are now the world's fastest-developing language.

With the world's population growing, and more people living in areas that are susceptible to natural disasters, these events can potentially affect  many lives and vital infrastructure . We need to ensure that these events can be communicated easily.

Of all natural hazards, the largest number of people are exposed to earthquakes - that's 2.5 billion people living worldwide. On average, hundreds of millions of people worldwide feel earthquakes every year.

Currently, although there is an emoji for other natural disasters and weather events (🌋🌀🌊🌪️​), there is no universal emoji for earthquakes and ground shaking.

With recent technological developments in social media-based earthquake detection and earthquake early warning systems, having a concise, internationally-universal way of describing an earthquake that breaks language barriers could have important implications for mitigating their hazards, and maybe even saving lives.

The global search for #emojiquake begins.

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​"Earthquakes pose a threat to up to one third of the world's population"
European Commission

What will make a good earthquake emoji?

We are looking for an emoji that ticks most of the following boxes:
  • Evocative. An iconic representation of earthquakes, that clearly represents the process and/or effect of earth shaking (e.g. ground shaking, building damage/collapse, etc).
  • Simple. The design should have as little complexity as possible, so that it will remain easily recognisable even at very small sizes.
  • Universal. It should be easily understood across language and cultures.
  • Distinctive. It should be distinct from any other emoji in the Unicode list.

How does the competition work?

  1. The global search is completely open to everyone - you do not need to be a seismologist or a graphic designer.
  2. You will need to nominate your logo draft by 14 July 2018 (see below for instructions on submitting). Note that we have extended the deadline to allow to further submissions.
  3. After the closing date, the submissions will be judged and narrowed down by the quake-emoji steering committee (see below) to a final shortlist of four emojis.
  4. The shortlist of four will be put to an open Twitter-based vote using the hashtag #emojiquake, and the winner will be announced shortly after.

How will the emoji become internationally recognised?

Once the winning emoji has been selected, the steering committee will work with the winning designer to submit a full emoji proposal to be added to the unicode emoji selection group. 
​The emoji will have a good chance to getting accepted by Unicode due to the case for its anticipated use in improving public safety.

How can I nominate my earthquake emoji design?

Once you have created your emoji design and you are happy with it, please email it to emojiquake@gmail.com. 
Please ensure that your image conforms to the following guidelines:
  • Format: PNG
  • Dimensions: 72x72 pixels
  • The image should extend to the sides of the cell (i.e. no extra padding).
  • Outside of the main image, it should be transparent.
  • Black & white images must be suitable for fonts.
  • Grayscale is not acceptable.
Although electronic graphics are our preferred option, we will also consider clear hand-drawn sketches.
If you are considering designing and emoji, and you would like some inspiration, you can view our current submissions by clicking here 

Who is on the earthquake emojii steering group?

  • Dr. Stephen Hicks - Seismologist - University of Southampton, UK​ (email: s.hicks@soton.ac.uk)
  • ​Dr. Zoë Mildon - Earthquake geologist - University of Plymouth, UK
  • Dr. Chris Rowan - Geologist - Kent State University, US
  • ​Dr. Remy Bossu - Secretary-General - European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre
  • Dr. Jean-Paul Ampuero - Earthquake Seismologist, GEOAZUR, France
  • Dr. María Martínez Cruz - Volcanologist - Volcano and Earthquake Observatory, National University of Costa Rica
  • Elizabeth Angell - Earthquake Anthropologist - Columbia University
  • Dr. Sara McBride - Earthquake Communication Scientist - United States Geological Survey.

#emojiquake in the news

Picture
BBC News - Could an emoji save your life?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44403986

#emojiquake live Twitter feed

    How can I give feedback on the initiative?