Emoji might not be your first choice of communication in a disaster, but researchers feel they could make a difference during emergencies, where every second counts. Now, the Emoji-quake campaign is lobbying for an earthquake emoji to be added to the Unicode set — the standard group of icons available on digital devices worldwide. The campaign aims to find an earthquake-appropriate design to be submitted to Unicode.
"Approximately up to one third of the world's population are exposed to earthquakes," explains University of Southampton seismologist (地震学家) Dr. Stephen Hicks, a founder of the campaign. "So we really want to be able to communicate to all of those regions, all of those different languages, and an emoji is an amazing way of doing that."
Unlike many other weather and climate related events, where longer warning times or visible signs are available, earthquakes move incredibly quickly and are difficult to measure while they are still occurring. Populations in areas like Japan and Mexico are dependent on earthquake early warning technology, which issues an alert on digital devices and broadcast media. "You may have seconds to get under a table or to protect yourself," explains Dr. Hicks. "That can be life saving in many cases. Naturally you don't want too much wording in the warning message."
Pictographs (象形文字) and other visuals like emoji have a track record of being faster and easier to understand than written information. Dr. Sara McBride, a communications specialist, who is also part of the campaign, told BBC News, "Emoji can cross the boundaries of written languages, helping communicate valuable information to people who may struggle to read a certain language."
The potential usefulness of emoji in emergencies could extend well beyond earthquakes. A team of designers also came up with emerji—an entire set of emoji dedicated to climate and environmental events.
