Printed on recycled paper U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

A

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Earthquake Information Products and Tools from 

Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS)

This Fact Sheet provides a brief description of a series of 

new or updated post-earthquake tools and products. The 

focus is on products specifically aimed at providing 

situational awareness in the period immediately following significant earthquake events. 

ANSS Background

The Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) is a 

partnership of the United States Geological Survey 

(USGS), academia, other government agencies, and 

industry that monitors earthquakes in the U.S. and 

collects seismic data. Since its inception in 2000, funding 

has provided for the installation of over 700 new seismic 

stations to collect high-quality seismic data to serve the 

needs of the emergency management and response, 

engineering, and scientific communities.

According to recent estimates by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the annualized 

earthquake losses in the United States are $5.6 billion 

per year, with a single earthquake potentially causing 

losses greater than $100 billion. Such losses can be 

mitigated by using information from seismic monitoring 

to effectively focus resources in regions of significant 

risk, to perform seismic rehabilitation, to improve the 

overall performance of earthquake engineering designs, 

and to plan for the response to hazardous events. 

In addition to these basic and fundamental scientific and 

hazard monitoring roles, a modern seismic system is 

vital for providing timely and accurate information about 

earthquake activity and earthquake effects, and for 

reducing loss of life and property from earthquake 

disasters. Rapid dissemination of post-earthquake 

information about shaking effects can promote 

situational awareness, benefiting residents of seismically 

active regions by allowing rapid mobilization of emergency response, at the level appropriate for the need.

ANSS Products and Tools

In addition to greatly enhanced web pages

now provides post-earthquake decision-m

routinely disseminates information to user

need for near real-time earthquake analysi

This list is not intended to be a comprehen

of ANSS post-earthquake products. Rathe

mary of ongoing developments deemed of 

public, the media, and those responding to 

be it from the critical lifeline, utility, gove

gency response, emergency coordination, r

ning, business continuity, and other relevan

Following are tools recommended for vari

user categories. For each category, see the 

ated with each of the products portrayed o

this information sheet for more detailed in

Earthquake Information User Catego

General Public and Media 

 Latest Earthquakes

 Earthquake Notification Service (E

 Real-time Feeds and Data 

 Did You Feel It?

 ShakeMaps

 Seismogram Displays

Emergency Responders and Managers, 

Business Continuity Planners and Coor

 Earthquake Notification Service (E

 Real-time Feeds and Data 

 ShakeMap

 CISN (California Integrated Seism

 Display

 Prompt Assessment of Global Eart

 for Response (PAGER)

Critical Lifeline and Utility Operators

 All of the above, plus

 ShakeCast
Modesto

Monterey

San Jose

San Francisco

Santa Cruz

San Juan Bautista

0 10 20 30

km

SHAKING WEAK STRONG SEVERE

SHAKECAST SERVER USER DATABASES

SHAKEMAP

DATA &

MAPS

F A C IL IT IE S

Location

Location

Location

Location

...

Location

Bridge A

Overpass 1

Overpass 2

Overpass 3

...

Overpass 4

USER'S SHAKECAST CLIENT

E S T IMA T E D D A MA G E

Damge Likely

Damge Likely

Damge Likely

Damge Poss.

...

Damge Poss.

Bridge A

Overpass 1

Overpass 2

Overpass 3

...

Overpass 4

EMAIL

CELL PHONE

& PAGER

Polling

NOTIFICATION

SUMMARY

WEB PAGES

&

NO T IF IC A T IO NS

303 273 8123

jone@email

smith@mail

smith@cell

jim@pager

...

Jane Doe 

Bill Jones

John Smith

...

...

F R A G IL IT IE S

0.3/0.6g

0.2/0.5g

0.2/0.5g

0.2/0.5g

...

25/50 cm/s

Bridge A

Overpass 1

Overpass 2

Overpass 3

...

Overpass 4

Earthquake

Search

Pontianak

Singkawang

Metro

Phuket

Info by Region

Pick a State or a country and find out

about historical earthquakes, seismic

hazard, local agencies, and more.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

regional/states.php or world.php

Afters

Map gi

shocks 

within t

http://e

eqcente

Latest Earthquakes

Maps and information for United

States and worldwide earthquakes

within minutes after they occur.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/

ShakeMaps

Distribution of shaking from an

earthquake anywhere in the world

within minutes.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

shakemap/

Earthq

Servic

Custom

automa

device o

https://s

Earthquake Data

Catalog search, recent and historic

earthquake archive, “Top 10” lists,

scientific data, and so on.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

eqcenter/eqarchives/

PAGER

Estimat

signific

anywhe

http://ea

Seism

Electro

paper s

http://e

eqcente

ShakeCast

Automated ShakeMap delivery,

damage assessment, and notification

for critical lifeline operators.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

resources/software/shakecast/

Real-time Feeds and Data

Real-time earthquake data in a

variety of formats including RSS,

CAP, CSV, and KML.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

eqcenter/catalogs/

Did Yo

Citizen-

shaking 

by the p

http://ea

CISN 

Downlo

and rec

anywhe

http://w

cisndisp

ANSS Earthquake Information Products an

110 ̊E

USGS Community Internet Intensity Map (126 miles WNW of Sibolga, Sumatera, Indonesia)

ID:weax_05 16:09:37 GMT MAR 28 2005 Mag=8.7 Latitude=N2.09 Longitude=E97.02

Yangon

Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh

Phnum Penh

Kuching

Dha Nang

Nha Trang

Can Tho

Bat Dambang

Nakhon Ratchasima

Qui Nhon

Sibu

Khon Kaen

Mergui

Ca Mau

Port Blair

Nakhon Sawan

Sakhon Nakhon

Tuy Hoa

Pousat

Kon Tum

Labutta

Pangkalanbuun

Tak

Jakarta

Krung Thep

Surat Thani

Chumphon

Phangnga

Map last updated on Sun Apr 3 23:10:25 2005

INTENSITY

SHAKING

DAMAGE

I

Not felt

none

II-III

Weak

none

IV

Light

none

V

Moderate

Very light

VI

Strong

Light

VII

Very strong

Moderate

VIII

Severe

Moderate/Heavy

IX

Violent

Heavy

X+

Extreme

Very Heavy

Contact Information: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/contactus/

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