In this video we will be covering
the USGS earthquake event page
and the scientific products that are available
after an earthquake.
Below is a list of the topics
that are going to be covered in this video.
We have provided links in the video description
to jump to the start of each of these topics
for easy navigation.
Let's begin.
Earthquakes can happen anywhere at any time,
in the United States and around the globe.
And as you know, they can cause a great deal
of damage and destruction.
The USGS provides information
about earthquake hazards,
where the shaking is likely to occur and those effects,
and also provides a variety
of situational awareness products
immediately following major earthquakes
that can help in understanding what just happened.
Earthquakes happen because of slip on faults in the crust.
Those faults are under a great amount of stress
due to the forces of plate tectonics.
Earthquakes can be near or far,
they can be shallow or deep,
they can be large or small.
And those features will determine
what kind of shaking is experienced,
whether that shaking is violent or gentle,
whether it's short or long lasting.
The USGS studies the occurrence
in location of earthquakes,
but earthquakes can happen at any time
and they usually take us by surprise.
So for that reason, we put a lot of effort
into being able to get out earthquake information
as soon as something happens and determine the extent
of the shaking, the extent of the damage,
and put that information out as quickly as possible.
There's different types of earthquakes.
Some, the largest earthquakes occur at plate boundaries,
typically at subduction zones
where they're typically offshore
and can cause significant shaking on land.
But the worst earthquakes are those that occur
in the shallow crust on land, beneath populated areas.
And when the shaking happens,
when there's significant infrastructure
and population exposed,
typically the damages to the buildings,
and the older buildings
tend to dominate the shaking damage.
But on top of the damage due to shaking,
we also have secondary hazards.
These include landslides and liquefaction
where ground failure can add
to the very significantly to the loss of life
and to the damage to buildings and infrastructure.
And it can also create havoc
in trying to respond to earthquakes
where due to road closures or in some cases,
access to ports and access to runways
can be damaged due to liquefaction of the soil.
Following every earthquake that we record,
we put up what we call an event page,
in which we collect and present all the information
we have about at earthquake.
That includes a variety of products
for situational awareness.
Each of these products is put onto the web
as soon as it's prepared,
that can be within minutes for some,
and tens of minutes to hours for others.
And each of these products is updated
as our information about the earthquake has improved.
Our did you feel it system, is citizen science in action.
Residents in the area where the earthquake occurred
can fill out a form on a web browser or on a cell phone
that reports what they experienced
during the earthquake.
We use this information
along with recordings from seismometers
to understand how shaking was distributed
throughout the shaken region.
This would be how far it's extended,
how severe it is in different parts of the area.
This information also is used
to improve our other information products,
including shake map.
Shake map gives a snapshot of the distribution
of shaking from the earthquake.
We collect this information from seismometers
as well as the, "Did you feel it" system
and present it in a map form
in which the colors show the intensity of shaking.
The tabs running across the top
show that information in a variety of other formats
that may be of interest to engineers,
and also information about the seismometers
that contributed to the map.
Information from shake map can be downloaded
from a link at the bottom of the page
in GIS format, maps, background information, and so forth.
PAGER provides an estimate of the impacts of the earthquake
in terms of loss of life and economic damage.
To produce PAGER,
which stands for Prompt Assessment
of Global Earthquakes for Response,
we combine information about the distribution
of shaking from shake map,
along with where the population is distributed
and the impacts of past earthquakes.
And we use that to estimate the impacts of the earthquake.
The chart on the left
shows likely fatalities from the earthquake,
with green indicating low likelihood fatalities
to red being a likelihood that there was a great number.
Similarly, the chart on the right
shows the likely economic damage from the earthquake,
from green being a little to no damage
to red being damage that could exceed a billion dollars.
For most earthquakes,
PAGER is split onto the web within 5 to 10 minutes.
For the largest and most destructive earthquakes,
our seismologists take a careful look
at the earthquake information
before putting up PAGER,
so it could be as long as 45 minutes to an hour.
PAGER is then updated as our information
about the earthquake improves.
Earthquake information from PAGER,
including the images and background information
can be obtained through the download link on the webpage.
PAGER provides an overall sense
of the level of response likely to be required
by the earthquake.
PAGER green indicates an earthquake
that may only be of passing interest,
minor damage and impacts.
Whereas PAGER orange or red
may indicate a regional
or even national response being required
to a major disaster.
Our ground failure product can be used
for situational awareness in the hours and days
following a large earthquake
to indicate where landsliding
and liquifaction may have occurred,
and the extent of those hazards.
We provide this information through charts and maps.
Colored bars show the likely extent
of lands sliding in liquifaction in terms of area
and the amount of population likely exposed
to those hazards.
Maps show the distribution of areas
in which landsliding and liquifaction is likely to occur.
Keep in mind that this information is not ground truth.
It's a guide for reconnaissance
and for situational awareness.
It should not be used for as a map
of what's actually happened,
that would be determined through observations in the field.
We provide this information in a variety of formats
that can be downloaded right from the website.
We provide an interactive map
where you can layer together our various products
to provide situational awareness about the event.
On a map base that can be a topographic map,
a street grid, or a satellite image,
you can pull together our products such as shake map,
did you feel it, seismometer stations,
liquifaction,
landsliding,
and the population distribution.
This can be screenshot in order
to share with your associates.
Our aftershock forecast provides situational awareness
about earthquakes that may continue to batter the area
during response and recovery.
As you know,
any large earthquake is likely followed by aftershocks,
many of which can be large enough to be felt
and be unnerving.
And some of which can be large enough
to cause further damage.
Our forecast product provides a likely hood
that large earthquakes of high magnitude are going to occur
in the weeks and months following the earthquake.
And also the number of smaller magnitude aftershocks
that are likely to occur.
We provide this information in a plain language format
on the first tab,
a second tab summarizes that information in tables.
In addition to all the information available
on the website,
advanced users can go to the USGS feeds
and APIs to get any of the layers of the products
that we've been talking about
and use them interactively on their own GIS systems
and other engineering and scientific analyses.
In addition to the feeds
and all the layers available through those feeds,
we provide a software package called ShakeCast,
which allows critical lifelines, utilities,
and businesses to upload
their critical infrastructure and facilities
and compare those with shaking levels
determined by shake map.
They can then prioritize inspections
based on which structures are likely to be damaged
or which structures are going to need inspections.
ShakeCast is extremely important for critical lifelines
and technical users who need more information
and how to respond to the earthquake at specific facilities.
If you'd like more information
about the feeds or download the ShakeCast software,
please follow the links that are on the screen.
Well, that's a brief overview
of the products that we produce
in post earthquake environment.
More details can be found at the links provided
and the resources shown on your screen.