Methods and apparatus for automotive vehicles respond to earthquake warnings to provide occupant awareness of potential hazards while taking autonomous actions such as slowing the vehicle, navigating to a safe location, and providing safety advice. Data gathered by the vehicle can be sent wirelessly to a remote center for coordinating emergency response using the data. The vehicle preferably comprises a powertrain, a plurality of vehicle accessory systems, and an emergency management controller. The controller is adapted to receive an earthquake warning message. The controller responds to the warning message by providing a power conservation command to at least one accessory system to reduce power consumption by at least one respective noncritical accessory function. In addition, it evaluates a vehicle mobility status and automatically launches a corresponding safety measure.