8/29/2015

EarthquakeFactsandStatistics

EarthquakeHazardsProgram

EarthquakeFactsandStatistics
We'retransitioningtoanewsystem,sothiswebpageisbeingphasedoutandisnolongermaintainedasof11/27/12.To
generatestatisticsforpastearthquakes,pleaseusetheOnlineEarthquakeCatalog.

ThelistsandstatisticsonthiswebpagehavenotbeenupdatedsinceDecember2012.Manyofthesewillbeupdatedandavailable
whenwehavecompletedthetransitionintothenewearthquakedatabase.Wehopetoprovidethissometimein2015.

FrequencyofOccurrenceofEarthquakes
Magnitude

AverageAnnually

8andhigher

77.9

15

66.9

134

55.9

1319

44.9

13,000

Magnitudevs.GroundMotionandEnergy

(estimated)

33.9

GroundMotion
Change
(Displacement)

Energy
Change

1.0

10.0times

about32times

0.5

3.2times

about5.5times

0.3

2.0times

about3times

0.1

1.3times

about1.4times

Thistableshowsthatamagnitude7.2earthquakeproduces10
timesmoregroundmotionthanamagnitude6.2earthquake,butit
releasesabout32timesmoreenergy.Theenergyreleasebest
indicatesthedestructivepowerofanearthquake.See:Howmuch
biggerisamagnitude8.7earthquakethanamagnitude5.8
earthquake?

130,000
(estimated)

22.9

Magnitude
Change

1,300,000
(estimated)

Basedonobservationssince1900.
Thesenumbershavebeenrecentlyupdated,basedondatafrom
theCentennialcatalog(from1900to1999)andthePDE(since
2000).
Basedonobservationssince1990.
TheUSGSestimatesthatseveralmillionearthquakesoccurintheworldeachyear.Manygoundetectedbecausetheyhitremote
areasorhaveverysmallmagnitudes.TheNEICnowlocatesabout50earthquakeseachday,orabout20,000ayear.
Asmoreandmoreseismographsareinstalledintheworld,moreearthquakescanbeandhavebeenlocated.However,thenumberof
largeearthquakes(magnitude6.0andgreater)hasstayedrelativelyconstant.

NumberofEarthquakesWorldwidefor20002012
LocatedbytheUSGeologicalSurveyNationalEarthquakeInformationCenter
(M4.5+formostoftheworlddoesn'tincludeUSregionalnetworkcontributions)
Magnitude 2000 2001 2002 2003

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010

2011

2012

8.0to9.9

7.0to7.9

14

15

13

14

14

10

14

12

16

23

19

11

6.0to6.9

146

121

127

140

141

140

142

178

168

144

150

185

96

1515 1693 1712 2074 1768 1896

2209

2276

1295

4.0to4.9 8008 7991 8541 8462 10888 13917 12838 12078 12291 6805 10164

13315

8710

5.0to5.9 1344 1224 1201 1203

3.0to3.9 4827 6266 7068 7624

7932 9191 9990 9889 11735 2905

4341

2791

2174

2.0to2.9 3765 4164 6419 7727

6316 4636 4027 3597 3860 3014

4626

3643

2721

1.0to1.9 1026

1344

26

18

42

21

26

39

47

34

134

103

NoMagnitude 3120 2807 2938 3608

2939

864

828 1807 1922

17

24

11

0.1to0.9

944 1137 2506

1

10

Total 22256 23534 27454 31419 31194 30478 29568 29685 31777 14825 21577 *22289 *15049
Estimated
Deaths

231 21357 1685 33819 228802 88003 6605

712 88011 1790 320120

21953

629

StartinginJanuary2009,theUSGSNationalEarthquakeInformationCenternolongerlocatesearthquakessmallerthanmagnitude4.5
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

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8/29/2015

EarthquakeFactsandStatistics

outsidetheUnitedStates,unlesswereceivespecificinformationthattheearthquakewasfeltorcauseddamage.
Thevaluesinthetablesforthemostrecentyearsmayfluctuateduetomagnitudeupdatesduringthereviewprocess.

NumberofEarthquakesintheUnitedStatesfor20002012
LocatedbytheUSGeologicalSurveyNationalEarthquakeInformationCenter
(M2.5+doesn'tincludeUSregionalnetworkcontributions)
Magnitude 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

2011

2012

8.0to9.9

7.0to7.9

6.0to6.9

5.0to5.9

63

41

63

54

25

47

51

72

85

58

89

51

25

4.0to4.9 281 290 536 541 284 345 346 366 432 288 631

347

250

3.0to3.9 917 842 1535 1303 1362 1475 1213 1137 1486 1492 3584

1838

1096

2.0to2.9 660 646 1228 704 1336 1738 1145 1173 1573 2379 4132

2941

1951

1.0to1.9

11

13

26

39

47

34

0.1to0.9

NoMagnitude 415 434 507 333 540

73

13

22

20

14

12

Total 2342 2261 3876 2946 3550 3685 2783 2791 3618 4262 8496 *5237 *3365
Estimated
Deaths

EarthquakeInformationforthe1990s
GraphsofEarthquakeStatistics
Wedetect,butgenerallydonotlocate,about50mineblasts(explosions)throughouttheUnitedStatesonanygivenbusinessday.
Theseblaststypicallyoccurbetweennoonand6PMlocaltimeMondaythroughSaturday.Ofthese,aboutoneeventeverytwodays
islargeenoughthatwecomputealocationfortheblastandpostittoaseparateexplosionslisting.

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