SpatialNews Press Release

Red is High; Blue is Low - Where Do You Live?

geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/eq

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Curious as to whether or not you live on shaky ground? There are more than 75 million Americans in 39 states who live in cities with moderate to high risk from earthquakes. USGS scientists and their partner colleagues have just revised and updated the national seismic hazard maps that provide information essential to seismic design provisions of building codes in the United States. This means that engineers and planners now have updated information to ensure that buildings, bridges, highways and utilities are built or rebuilt to meet modern seismic design provisions – and that means they’re better able to withstand the shaking of earthquakes. Standing up to the shaking of an earthquake not only means that lives are saved but also that critical activities can continue after the shaking with less disruption – like power lines, transportation corridors, and other vital infrastructure.


National Seismic Hazard Map

The updated versions of the maps – color-coded (red is high; blue is low) as to the level of seismic hazard – are now available at http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/eq/. In the upcoming weeks, other features presently available on the website will be updated to match the revised maps, including the ground-shaking levels for 150,000 sites, the seismicity catalogs and fault parameters used to make the updated maps, customizable hazard mapping and being able to create hazardous earthquake scenarios for a given location. Kathleen Gohn (kgohn@usgs.gov) 703-648-4460

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