Map of the February 6, 2013 earthquake in the Santa Cruz Islands.

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck in the Santa Cruz Islands on February 6, 2013 at 01:12:27 UTC.

Visit the USGS event page on this earthquake.

For an estimate of the earthquake’s impact, visit the USGS Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) website.

For information about tsunami watches, warning or advisories, visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tsunami website.

Read additional earthquake information for Japan.

If you felt this earthquake, report your experience on the “USGS Did You Feel It?” website for this event.

Learn more about the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program.

The Schwedagon pagoda, Burma’s most revered shrine, has been damaged multiple times by earthquakes throughout its long history.

As Burma’s government moves forward with political and economic reform, it has also shown greater openness to working with U.S. government agencies on a variety of issues. The U.S. Geological Survey is using this opportunity to work with seismology and disaster management experts to help design a long-term disaster risk reduction program for Burma that will assess seismic hazard and take steps to reduce risk. As a first step to launching this project, USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) sponsored an initial visit May 21-25, 2012, by USGS research geophysicists Susan Hough and Mark Petersen and USAID/OFDA regional adviser Brian Heidel.

The U.S. government team met with counterparts from the Burmese government, including the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement, as well as United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations such as the Myanmar Earthquake Commission and the Myanmar Engineering Society.  The visit culminated with a lively half-day Earthquake Preparedness Planning workshop that was well-attended by key staff from all of the above-mentioned groups.

The May 2012 visit focused on an assessment of needs and gaps in current earthquake risk-assessment programs. Through meetings and site visits, the U.S. team identified high-priority future program activities that will be addressed by future USAID/OFDA-supported USGS missions. Most importantly, the visit laid a foundation for future collaboration between the United States and Government of Burma aimed at mitigating earthquake risk. As Burma enters a new period of economic expansion and potentially rapid construction growth, these steps will be of vital importance to help ensure that the earthquake resilience of Burma’s future development will match the enormous resilience of its people.

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada on October 28, 2012 at 03:04:10 UTC.

Visit the USGS event page on this earthquake.

For an estimate of the earthquake’s impact, visit the USGS Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) website.

For information about tsunami watches, warning or advisories, visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tsunami website.

Read additional earthquake information for Canada.

If you felt this earthquake, report your experience on the “USGS Did You Feel It?” website for this event.

Learn more about the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program.

USGS biologists translocated critically endangered Laysan Teal, such as this adult with brood, from Laysan Island to Midway Island in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to expand the species’ population and range and help guard against extinction.

Saving a critically endangered species takes time and patience. U.S. Geological Survey scientists learned this anew as they surveyed the toll on the critically endangered Laysan teal (Anas laysanensis) from last year’s Pacific Ocean Tōhuku Tsunami generated by an earthquake in Japan.

The population of Laysan teal, a small duck once found throughout the Hawaiʻian Islands, had grown rapidly from an estimated 450 birds on tiny Laysan Island to an estimated 830 birds by 2010 at two sites after successful reintroduction to Midway Atoll led by Michelle Reynolds, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Rendered extinct on Hawaii’s main islands hundreds of years ago by the human introduction of rats, the teal had been found in recent times only in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which are rat-free. In 2004 and 2005, Reynolds and her multi-agency team moved 42 of the surviving birds on Laysan Island within the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, a strategic World War II battlefield that is now part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument – and that, like Laysan, is free of mammalian predators. The teal on Midway took to their new island home, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and produced more ducklings than ever documented before.

Then came the March 2011 tsunami that washed over large areas of both Midway and Laysan islands. At Midway Atoll, the tallest wave was nearly 5 feet. As Reynolds and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitor the population to determine the impact of the tsunami on both refuge areas, they are reassured by the knowledge they gained from the successful reintroduction effort. Research on the conservation biology of endangered species will help not only the Laysan teal but many island species worldwide that are vulnerable to random disasters, and affected by climate change, habitat loss or predation by non-native species.

John Klavitter of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, left, and USGS biologist Michelle Reynolds attach transmitters to critically endangered Laysan teal that were translocated from Laysan to Midway Island to expand the species’ population and range.

“The species is still at risk,” Reynolds said. “The wild translocation to re-establish a second population was shown to be feasible and successful, but more populations are needed to reduce the high risks of living on low-lying tiny islands.”

In conservation biology, “translocation” is the managed relocation of members of a wildlife species – either captive-bred or from the wild – to someplace else in hope of expanding the species’ population and range. Fewer than half the translocations of threatened species are deemed successful by their investigators. Problems can arise with the population to be moved, such as lack of genetic diversity limiting its breeding success, or with the proposed new habitat, or because of an abundance of predators. Sometimes, the new home just doesn’t seem right to the translocated species and the animals will disperse across the landscape, and scientists have to find out why they don’t survive or breed. Many years ago, a previous effort to save the Laysan teal failed when the translocated birds simply turned up their bills at their new location – as sometimes happens – and tried to fly back to Laysan, never to be seen again.

Reynolds’ work with the Laysan teal emphasized not only keeping them close to the release site to acclimate them during the critical first few months after translocation, but also to learn everything possible about how the species uses and adapts to habitat. The birds’ flight feathers were trimmed when they were released at Midway, so they could not fly for the first year after translocation. This would not have been possible if rats, accidentally introduced during WWII, had not been removed from the atoll when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took over Midway’s management in 1996. Extra food was set out near the release site that first season, so the teal might be less likely to scatter across the island rather than choose mates and breed.

Even so, Reynolds recalls, the birds “sometimes didn’t follow the plan.”

“We had one female bird that just went off by herself, just walked a couple of kilometers to the middle of the island, away from all potential mates, to nest without a drake. She produced multiple infertile nests there, until the population grew,” she said. Most ducks, however, found mates and produced successful nests in their first year on Midway. By 2010, there were more than 400 Laysan teal on Midway. The growth was leveling off, a sign that the species’ population density may have been reached. This is important to know for future translocations: A long-term goal is to return the Laysan teal – “Hawaiʻi’s own duck,” – Reynolds said – to a higher-elevation site in the main Hawaiʻian Islands. Reynolds’ and co-authors’ latest research is published in a recent issue of Animal Conservation.

USGS biologists translocated critically endangered Laysan Teal, such as this one, from Laysan Island to Midway Island in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to expand the species’ population and range and help guard against extinction.

Because both Laysan and Midway are so remote, Reynolds has been able to visit the study sites with the Laysan teal only once or twice a year after the reintroduction. The refuge field camp at Laysan is a five- or six-day boat trip from Honolulu and an inter-island flight from Hawaiʻi Island, where Reynolds works at the USGS Kīlauea Field Station. Field biologists must stay for months and bring food, water and other supplies. Midway Atoll has an airstrip with thrice-monthly flights, but it is also remote, located approximately 350 miles northwest of Laysan.

Both Laysan and Midway are part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (also called the Leeward Islands), small, low-lying islands and atolls running some 1200 miles northwest of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau in the Pacific Ocean. Jointly protected as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, the 140,000-square-mile region is designated by UNESCO as one of only 26 mixed (natural and cultural) World Heritage Sites on the planet. Remote and ecologically vulnerable, most of the Northwestern Hawaiian Island region is uninhabited and closed to the public. Midway has about 60 residents, as well as scientific installations including a USGS seismic monitoring station.

A map showing the population exposure from the M 8.6 earthquake that struck off the west coast of northern Sumatra on April 11, 2012

A magnitude-8.6 earthquake struck off the west coast of northern Sumatra Wednesday, April 11, 2012, at 8:38 a.m., UTC. It was followed by a M-8.2 earthquake at 10:43 a.m. UTC. The estimated depths of these earthquakes are 14 and 10 miles respectively.

The M 8.6 event caused low to moderate shaking in the Sumatran cities of Sinabang and Meulaboh general alarm in costal areas of northwestern Sumatra where people rushed to higher ground. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a tsunami watch for both the M 8.6 and the M 8.2 earthquakes, but subsequently cancelled both.

The current version of the USGS Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) estimate is that economic losses are most likely to be less than $1 million range, and there are no expected fatalities.

A map showing the responses to the USGS Did You Feel It? tool following the April 11, 2012 M 8.6 earthquake off the west coast of northern Sumatra

The earthquake struck near the eastern edge of the Indian Ocean off the west coast of northern Sumatra. As of this writing, 1,912 people in 245 cities throughout northern Sumatra and the surrounding region had responded on the USGS Did You Feel It? website.

History of strong earthquakes

Sumatra is located in a tectonically active area, and it experiences frequent significant earthquakes.  In 2004, this area experienced a M 9.1 earthquake that resulted in a significant tsunami. In total, 227,898 people were killed or were missing and presumed dead and about 1.7 million people were displaced by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 14 countries in South Asia and East Africa.

The ground in Japan began rumbling March 9, 2011, with a series of large foreshocks measuring over magnitude 6 and peaking at magnitude 7.2. But it was not until two days later that the main event, which would trigger the tsunami responsible for the bulk of the destruction, occurred. At magnitude 9.0, the massive earthquake is world’s fifth largest earthquake since 1900. In Japan, it is the largest since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago. The tsunami even caused over $50 million in damage to nearly two dozen harbors in California.

Strong shaking lasted three to five minutes in some places. The tsunami damaged the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, disabling the emergency generators needed to cool reactors and leading to nuclear meltdowns and radiation leaks. William Ellsworth, of the USGS Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, Calif., says photos and video of the tsunami will provide powerful evidence of the implications of hazard risk around the globe. “I no longer need to explain to anyone the power of, or danger posed by, a tsunami,” he said.

This USGS ShakeMap shows shaking intensity along the east coast of Japan during the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake.

In the United States, scientists and staff at the USGS’s National Earthquake Information Center, which monitors all significant global earthquakes, began working around the clock as the Tohoku earthquake and its resulting tsunami occurred. They quickly produced products for emergency responders, the public, the media, and the academic community about the earthquake’s potential impact and damages, as well as provided scientific background for the interpretation of the event’s tectonic context and potential for future hazards.

When the shaking and tsunami subsided, they left staggering destruction behind. Japan reported around 20,000 casualties, making the event the 20^th most deadly earthquake and tsunami in the past 100 years. In addition, the country experienced $200-300 billion in property and infrastructure losses, an economic toll that will affect Japan for years to come.

Experts note, however, that most of the losses were caused not by the quake itself, but by the unexpectedly large tsunami. They estimate that fewer than 5 percent of the damage came from the earthquake, due to Japan’s investment in infrastructure, engineering, and preparedness. Engineered buildings performed well under the high shaking levels, and the Japanese Earthquake Early Warning system provided up to 90 seconds’ warning of the earthquake for some residents in Tokyo.

Lessons from Tohoku

Altough the Tohoku quake did not occur in the United States or its territories, it was one of the most thoroughly recorded seismic events of its magnitude and provides valuable information to U.S. scientists seeking to understand how similar events would affect this Nation.

Tom Brocher, center director for the USGS Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, said, “The investment by the Japanese government in earthquake monitoring instrumentation yielded an unprecedented scientific and engineering data bonanza that will help the Japanese to mitigate damage from future earthquakes.”

For example, these data mean that scientists now know more about the probability of similar earthquakes and the potential size of their resulting tsunamis. An unparalleled amount of strong ground motion data were recorded that will help reduce uncertainty in seismic hazard assessments in Japan and elsewhere.

Researchers also know more about the effects of such earthquakes. For example, many cases of liquefaction were witnessed and filmed for the first time. Liquefaction occurs when soil loses strength and stiffness due to an applied stress like an earthquake and behaves like a liquid, often causing damage to structures and infrastructure.

Seismologists across the globe were surprised by the magnitude of shaking that occurred in the segment of fault responsible for the Tohoku quake. Japanese scientists had not believed a quake of such intensity could occur in that area, which in turn impacted tsunami strength estimates. According to Brocher, the tsunami defenses in the area were built in the event of a tsunami resulting from a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, not a 9.0.

This USGS ShakeMap shows projected shaking along the West Coast in the event of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurring along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Thus, even though the Japanese had planned and were well-prepared for a 200- or 300-year tsunami, they were not prepared for the 1000-year tsunami (an event that’s likely to occur just once every 1,000 years) that came instead. Consequently, Japan is currently updating its tsunami disaster plans for all of its coastal areas and requiring that all plans take evidence from paleo-tsunami deposits into consideration.

Paleo-tsunami deposits are the sand and mud that tsunamis leave behind. By studying deposits from recent events like the March 11 tsunamis, scientists are able to develop criteria for what those deposits look like and use them to examine coastal areas for records of tsunamis that struck centuries back. They can tell when tsunamis occurred and how far inland they reached by looking at the evidence left behind.

USGS coastal and marine geologists Bruce Jaffe, Bruce Richmond, and Rick Wilson have worked with Japanese scientists over the past year to study these deposits in Japan. Said Jaffe, “Japan has learned from this tsunami that it’s necessary to look at the geologic evidence for tsunamis in conjunction with the current understanding of earthquake potential to accurately assess the future tsunami hazard.” He explained that “Each tsunami brings its own sand and mud. Japan recognizes the value of using the very rich record of past tsunamis to help us understand the hazard for future tsunamis.”

The United States is also conducting its own paleo-tsunami deposit studies in California, Alaska, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands to better understand the tsunami risk in those areas.

This image shows fish and mud deposited from the tsunami on the road ringing Kawaihae Harbor in Hawaii on Saturday, March 12, 2011, at approximately 02:00 p.m. HST.

In the United States, the USGS and other seismologists are using data gained from Tohoku to better understand and update information on hazards along the Alaska-Aleutian and the Cascadia Subduction Zones, which slant beneath and can affect Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. According to Brocher, the Tohoku earthquake had similar characteristics to those that might be expected of giant earthquakes in these subduction zones, which are the points where one tectonic plate moves under another.

Insights gained from the Tohoku earthquake are leading scientists to re-evaluate the way they’ve assumed many other major faults are segmented. This may end up altering some hazard analyses for the West Coast, and will contribute to improved scenario modeling, building code development, and public warnings about tsunami threats.

Moving Forward: The Work Continues in the United States

This 2008 USGS National Seismic Hazard Map shows projected earthquake intensity across the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. . Information from these maps is used in building codes, insurance rate structures, risk assessments, and other public policy.

As part of the multi-agency National Earthquake Hazards Reduction ProgramtheUSGS Earthquake Hazards Program has the lead Federal responsibility to notify the public when earthquakes happen in order to enhance public safety and reduce losses through effective forecasts based on the best possible scientific information.

The USGS also monitors seismic activity throughout the Nation in a constant effort to understand what causes shaking, where it will occur, and how it will impact society.

We cannot predict earthquakes, and we cannot prevent them, but we can arm ourselves with information that helps us prepare for them and mitigate damage. As Ross Stein, a USGS geophysicist, said, “Earthquakes are part of our past. They’re part of our future. We will try our best, knowing what we are up against.”

Learn more about USGS research on earthquake hazards.

Building damaged by the tsunami in Yuriage, Japan.

To better understand and reduce tsunami hazards, USGS scientists examined sediment deposited by the tsunami in and around Sendai, Japan, as part of an international tsunami survey team organized by Japanese scientific cooperators.

Learn more