Earthquake Information Products

The USGS Advanced National Seismic System, which is a cooperative system operated by USGS and its partners, develops a prompt estimate with earthquake magnitude and location. Minutes to 10's of minutes later the USGS ANSS releases up to four main follow-up reports relating to earthquake shaking and possible consequences.
ENS can send you text summary reports for any/all of these products. Reports cannot be combined.
  • Event Report - magnitude and location

    • Earliest available report of earthquake occurrence.
    • Contains earthquake time, location, magnitude and list of nearby cities or features.
    • Delivered normally 5 to 15 minutes after U.S. earthquakes,
      and 10 to 20 minutes moderate and large earthquakes elsewhere in the world.
    • Settings:
      • Earthquake magnitudes.
      • Notification hours, for example, to only message during waking hours.
      • Destination email or email-to-SMS address
      • Message format, either email or short message.
    • Detailed instructions
    		 Event report
  • PAGER Summary - Estimated impacts to people and property
    • Preferred report for users who need a compact summary of anticipated earthquake consequences.
    • Content produced by the PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) Project.
    • Delivery normally 20-40 minutes after an earthquake.
    • Available for most M4+ earthquakes in the U.S. and M5+ elsewhere in the world.
    • Historically PAGER has reported on 1 to 2 events per week.
    • Settings:
      • Threshold for sending, defined by earthquake magnitude, Modified Mercalli Shaking Intensity, or the PAGER-specific Earthquake Intensity Scale.
      • Destination email or email-to-SMS address
      • Example message formats: email PAGER report or short PAGER report.
    • Detailed instructions
    		 PAGER
  • Aftershock forecasts - what could come after a large (U.S.) earthquake
    • Large earthquakes normally have aftershocks, and occasionally trigger a larger earthquake.
    • Select the Aftershock Forecast product to get a summary of probabilities of aftershocks by magnitude.
    • Produced by the Aftershock Forecast Project for mainshocks with magnitudes of 4.0 or greater in the continental U.S. and magnitudes of 5.0 or greater elsewhere in the U.S. and its territories.
    • Delivered about 30 minutes after the Event report, with one update after four hours.
    • Typically reports on 1 to 3 events per week.
    • Settings:
    • Detailed instructions
    		 Aftershock report
  • ShakeMap Text Summary - peak shaking intensity
    • ShakeMaps are typically produced for M 3.5+ earthquakes domestically, and for M 5.5+ or notable earthquakes elsewhere in the world.
    • The ENS report is a brief summary, not the map itself.
    • ShakeMaps become available 5 to 10 minutes after the Event Report.
    • For most users the PAGER report will better meet their needs. The PAGER report contains the ShakeMap, plus much more information.
    • Select the ShakeMap product if you have particular need to know when a new ShakeMap becomes available for an earthquake in your region.
    • Settings:
    • Detailed instructions
    		 ShakeMap
  • ShakeAlert® - Performance Report
    • Minutes after the ShakeAlert® earthquake early warning system reports an earthquake, a system performance report is sent to the USGS earthquake web pages.
    • ENS sends a short text summary when ShakeAlert® releases a new report.
    • Only reports if ShakeAlert estimates magnitude M 4.0+ in or near in California, Oregon and Washington.
    • Normally delivered 8-15 minutes after the earthquake.
    • This product might interest followers of USGS the ShakeAlert® system earthquake early warning project.
    • ENS messages associated with a ShakeAlert® arrive well after shaking, and are thus not helpful for protective actions.
    • Settings:
    • Detailed instructions
    		 ShakeAlert