Tweeting about earthquakes is hardly new — at least in twitter years. People turned to twitter during an earthquake in Southern California in July, 2008, after they finding they were unable to make or receive any cell phone calls, they could still use twitter via SMS or another mobile twitter app.
I find this solution to be really silly. After the Northridge Earthquake in Southern California in 1994, no one in the area could even use the phones. There was too many people trying to make calls for anything to work. The earthquake they're referring to was tiny in comparison. People should be looking to a battery based radio or working with their neighbors to figure out what is going on.
He keeps differentiating, flying off on a tangent.