Earthquake Tracker

The data comes straight from the USGS real-time feed, which refreshes about every five minutes. When you hit Refresh, you pull the latest list USGS has published. Tiny quakes can take a few extra minutes to be reviewed and confirmed, so the smallest events may appear with a short delay.

Every quake on this page is sourced live from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program GeoJSON feeds, the same data used by news outlets and emergency agencies. We do not add, edit, or estimate any events. Each entry links back to the official USGS detail page for that earthquake.

Magnitudes are grouped into bands by impact: minor (below 2.5, usually not felt), light (2.5 to 4.4, felt but rarely damaging), moderate (4.5 to 5.9), strong (6.0 to 6.9), and major (7.0 and above). The color on each quake matches its band, so you can scan the list and spot the significant events instantly.

The planet records roughly 55 earthquakes a day that USGS locates, around 20,000 a year. The vast majority are too small to feel. On any given day you might see only a handful above magnitude 4.5, and a magnitude 6 or larger happens about once every few days somewhere in the world.

Magnitude is logarithmic, so each whole number is about 32 times more energy released. A magnitude 2 quake releases roughly the energy of a small explosion and is rarely noticed, while a magnitude 6 is millions of times stronger. Most of the daily count sits below magnitude 2.5, which is why you only feel a tiny fraction of them.

Depth is how far below the surface the rupture started. Shallow quakes (less than about 70 km) tend to shake the surface harder for the same magnitude, which is why a moderate shallow quake can cause more damage than a deeper, larger one. Deep quakes (over 300 km) are often felt across wide areas but cause less localized destruction.

Yes. Use the region pages to view recent quakes filtered to places like California, Japan, Alaska, Chile, or Turkey. Each region page pulls the same live USGS data and shows only events inside that area, along with context on why that region is seismically active.

When USGS marks an event with tsunami potential, this tracker shows a tsunami alert label. It means the earthquake met criteria that warrant evaluation by tsunami warning centers. It is not a confirmation that a wave occurred. For official tsunami warnings, always check tsunami.gov or your national warning service.

Yes, completely free with no signup. It runs in your browser and reads the public USGS feed directly. There is nothing to install and no account needed.

No. Earthquakes cannot be predicted with a date, time, and place by anyone, including USGS. This tool shows what has already happened in near real time. Scientists can estimate long-term probabilities for a region, but no method reliably forecasts individual quakes in advance.