Learn about earthquake hazards

On February 6, 2023, a M 7.8 earthquake occurred in southern Turkey near the northern border of Syria. This earthquake was followed about 9 hours later by a M 7.5 earthquake approximately 90 km to the north. This interactive geonarrative describes the tectonic setting in the region, past seismicity in the area, and details of the earthquake rupture.

The Australia-Pacific margin is an intensely active plate boundary that produces some of the world's most powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. Explore this interactive geonarrative (Esri storymap).

Subduction zones are home to the most seismically active faults on the planet. The shallow megathrust interface of subduction zones host our largest earthquakes, and are the only faults capable of M9+ ruptures.

A summary of the earthquake sequence in the Alaska Peninsula during 2020 and 2021. On 29 July 2021, a magnitude (M) 8.2 earthquake occurred southeast of Perryville, Alaska, (south of the Alaska Peninsula). This event was preceded in 2020 by two nearby earthquakes. The first was a M7.8 earthquake (22 July 2020), followed three months later by a M7.6 earthquake (19 October 2020).

This geonarrative (Esri Story Map) takes you on a virtual tour of 1906 and 1969 earthquake damage in Santa Rosa, shows examples of buildings that have been retrofitted to protect against future earthquake shaking, and highlights locations where faulting from large earthquakes and slow fault slip (creep) is expressed at the ground surface. 

This USGS geonarrative (Esri Story Map) summarizes the USGS response and findings after the M6.4 on July 4 and M7.1 on July 6, 2019 in Searles Valley, Southern California, and includes links to USGS research publications and data releases.

How do we get ready for big earthquakes in populated areas? An important first step is to learn what a big earthquake could be like. These pages summarize the main patterns — the earthquake effects that show up again and again. Here, urban is shorthand for “cities, towns, and suburbs”.

What might it be like the next time the Hayward Fault has a large earthquake? A geonarrative and related imagery examines a hypothetical earthquake, the magnitude 7.0 HayWired earthquake scenario.