Earthquakes

Earthquakes can strike suddenly, violently, and without warning any time of day or night. Here you’ll find a “starter list” of tools and open data that can support communities in the event of an earthquake. If there are additional free tools or open data that can be shared, please email us at disastertech@ostp.gov.

Featured Data

Earthquake Feeds Near real-time earthquake information for a variety of time windows in a variety of formats, from the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
FEMA Disaster Declarations Information about disaster declarations since 1953, which features all three disaster declaration types: major disaster, emergency, and fire management assistance.
Earthquake Hazard Assessments Probabilistic seismic hazard maps from the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
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Tools

NGA

GeoQ crowdsources geo-tagged photos of disaster-affected areas to assess damage over large regions. Programmers can use the existing services and add features to customize the GeoQ code for their own community. GeoQ can be downloaded from http://github.com/ngageoint.
nprlabs

NPR Labs has developed technology that utilizes secure satellite and over-the-air broadcasts to provide emergency information to the 36 million Americans who are deaf and hard-of-hearing using a battery-operated radio and Android tablet. This collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate, FEMA, and 25 local public radio stations in the Gulf Coast could be expanded to partnerships with other local, state, and regional entities.
usgs

ShakeMap and ShakeCast are post-earthquake information tools for rapid situational awareness, using data from seismic monitoring systems to help emergency managers gauge an earthquake’s impact and plan response activities. These tools can be found at earthquake.usgs.gov.
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Get Involved

In addition to the many ways to Join the Movement and Get Involved, consider sharing your ideas and Challenge Statements where innovations in technology can be applied to help in the case of an earthquake. Email suggestions to disastertech@ostp.gov.