Earthquakes Today

Earthquakes happen somewhere on Earth every day. Most are small, many occur far from populated places, and only a small proportion cause damage. The live display above provides a current view of recently recorded earthquakes using data published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It is designed to help readers see where earthquakes are occurring, compare their reported magnitudes, and open the official record for any event that needs closer examination.

The list changes as seismic networks report new signals and analysts refine existing records. A newly detected earthquake may initially have an approximate location or magnitude. It may later move slightly on the map, receive a different magnitude, be identified as a quarry blast, or be removed after review. Those revisions are a normal part of real-time seismology rather than evidence that an earthquake itself has changed.

How to read today’s earthquake data

Magnitude estimates the size of an earthquake at its source. The scale is logarithmic: an increase of one whole magnitude represents about ten times greater measured wave amplitude and roughly 32 times more released energy. Magnitude alone does not determine how strongly people will feel an event or how much damage it can cause.

Depth is the estimated distance below the surface at which rupture began. Shallow earthquakes often produce stronger shaking close to the epicenter than deeper earthquakes of a similar magnitude, although local geology and building construction remain important. Depth estimates can be among the values most likely to change during early processing.

Location is normally shown as an epicenter: the point on Earth’s surface directly above the calculated origin of the earthquake. It is an estimate derived from the arrival times of seismic waves at multiple stations. The named place attached to an event is a geographic reference, not necessarily the community most affected.

Time may be displayed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or converted to the reader’s local time. When comparing events with reports from another country, check the time zone carefully.

Magnitude is not the same as shaking

Magnitude describes the earthquake; intensity describes its effects at a particular location. The same earthquake can produce severe shaking near the rupture and weak or imperceptible motion much farther away. Distance, depth, the direction in which a fault ruptures, soft soils, basin structure and building design can all change the experience on the ground.

USGS event pages may include a ShakeMap, community “Did You Feel It?” responses, estimates of exposed population and other products. These are more appropriate for assessing an individual event than a worldwide summary table. Some products appear automatically and are then revised as additional observations arrive.

Why the daily total varies

A high count does not automatically mean that global earthquake activity is increasing. Detection depends on the distribution and sensitivity of seismic instruments. Dense networks can record small local earthquakes that would go undetected in remote oceanic regions. After a large earthquake, a sequence of aftershocks can also raise the daily count substantially.

Short time windows are especially noisy. Meaningful claims about changes in earthquake frequency require consistent magnitude thresholds, comparable detection coverage and a much longer period of analysis. The number shown on this page is a current observation, not by itself a trend.

Aftershocks, swarms and clusters

Aftershocks are earthquakes that follow a larger event as the surrounding crust adjusts to a changed stress field. They may continue for days, months or longer, generally becoming less frequent with time. An aftershock can still be damaging, particularly where structures have already been weakened.

An earthquake swarm is a sequence in which no single event clearly dominates. Clusters may also appear on a map because a region has active faults and a sensitive monitoring network. The visual proximity of dots does not establish that one distant earthquake caused another.

Tsunamis and public safety

Most earthquakes do not generate tsunamis. A potentially damaging tsunami usually requires substantial displacement of the seafloor or another large movement of water. Magnitude, depth, fault motion and location all matter. This page is an educational summary and is not an emergency-warning service.

If an earthquake is felt strongly or for a long time near a coast, follow local civil-protection guidance and official tsunami-warning authorities. Do not wait for this page to refresh. For any recent event, use the linked USGS event page and the responsible national or regional agency for authoritative instructions.

Methodology and sources

The live module retrieves machine-readable earthquake records from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program GeoJSON feeds. USGS states that these summary feeds are updated every minute and provides separate feeds by time window and magnitude. Individual event details come from the USGS event record linked from each entry.

ARGO.net presents selected fields, may calculate simple totals, and may sort or group records for readability. We do not independently determine earthquake locations or magnitudes. Definitions are checked against USGS explanations of magnitude types, earthquake basics and related documentation.

Limitations

• Recent records are preliminary and may be revised or deleted.
• Small-earthquake coverage is not uniform around the world.
• A map marker shows an estimated epicenter, not the full area of fault rupture or shaking.
• Counts can differ from other services because of time windows, magnitude thresholds and catalog updates.
• Automatic data may be temporarily delayed by the source, network problems or caching.

Update log

• July 2026: ARGO Earthquakes Today launched with live USGS data, explanatory guidance and separate data-refresh and editorial-review information.