Natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, and wildfires threaten lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, agriculture, and water resources resulting in billions of dollars in damage annually around the world. USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research to help identify hazard characteristics to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.
USGS provides reliable information to answer your questions and provide assistance related to natural hazards, including impacts to people and communities. Training and technology transfer often are integral to the technical assistance provided by USGS international activities.
International studies related to hazards are conducted by scientists from throughout USGS on topics including:
- Volcano Disaster Assistance Program
- Global Seismographic Network
- Earthquake Hazards Program
- floods and droughts
- seismic hazard assessments
- landslides
- sinkholes
- tsunamis
- wildfires
- hurricanes
- beach erosion, overwash, inundation
- astrogeology
Latest Science
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Optimizing satellite resources for the global assessment and mitigation of volcanic hazards
A vast number of the world’s volcanoes are unmonitored by ground-based sensors, yet constitute an important hazard to nearby residents and infrastructure, as well as air travel and the global economy. Satellite data provide a cost-effective means of tracking activity at such volcanoes. Unfortunately, satellite acquisitions are not optimized for application to volcano hazards, in part...
Latest Publications
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Rapid surface rupture mapping from satellite data: The 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence
The 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence produced > 500 km of surface rupture primarily on the left‐lateral East Anatolian (~345 km) and Çardak (~175 km) faults. Constraining the length and magnitude of surface displacement on the causative faults is critical for loss estimates, recovery efforts, rapid identification of impacted infrastructure, and fault...
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Crustal thickness and the VP/VS ratio within the Arabia Plate from P-wave receiver functions at 154 broadband seismic stations
As part of a joint Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) and United States Geological Survey project, we analyzed P-wave receiver functions from seismic stations covering most of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to map the thickness of the crust across the Arabia Plate. We present an update of crustal thickness estimates and fill in gaps for the western Arabian Shield and the rifted margin at the Red...
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Probabilistic fault displacement hazard assessment (PFDHA) for nuclear installations according to IAEA safety standards
In the last 10 yr, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revised its safety standards for site evaluations of nuclear installations in response to emerging fault displacement hazard evaluation practices developed in Member States. New amendments in the revised safety guidance (DS507) explicitly recommend fault displacement hazard assessment, including separate approaches for...
Up to International Science Theme: Hazards
Natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, and wildfires threaten lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, agriculture, and water resources resulting in billions of dollars in damage annually around the world. USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research to help identify hazard characteristics to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.
USGS provides reliable information to answer your questions and provide assistance related to natural hazards, including impacts to people and communities. Training and technology transfer often are integral to the technical assistance provided by USGS international activities.
International studies related to hazards are conducted by scientists from throughout USGS on topics including:
- Volcano Disaster Assistance Program
- Global Seismographic Network
- Earthquake Hazards Program
- floods and droughts
- seismic hazard assessments
- landslides
- sinkholes
- tsunamis
- wildfires
- hurricanes
- beach erosion, overwash, inundation
- astrogeology
Latest Science
-
-
Optimizing satellite resources for the global assessment and mitigation of volcanic hazards
A vast number of the world’s volcanoes are unmonitored by ground-based sensors, yet constitute an important hazard to nearby residents and infrastructure, as well as air travel and the global economy. Satellite data provide a cost-effective means of tracking activity at such volcanoes. Unfortunately, satellite acquisitions are not optimized for application to volcano hazards, in part...
Latest Publications
-
Rapid surface rupture mapping from satellite data: The 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence
The 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence produced > 500 km of surface rupture primarily on the left‐lateral East Anatolian (~345 km) and Çardak (~175 km) faults. Constraining the length and magnitude of surface displacement on the causative faults is critical for loss estimates, recovery efforts, rapid identification of impacted infrastructure, and fault...
-
Crustal thickness and the VP/VS ratio within the Arabia Plate from P-wave receiver functions at 154 broadband seismic stations
As part of a joint Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) and United States Geological Survey project, we analyzed P-wave receiver functions from seismic stations covering most of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to map the thickness of the crust across the Arabia Plate. We present an update of crustal thickness estimates and fill in gaps for the western Arabian Shield and the rifted margin at the Red...
-
Probabilistic fault displacement hazard assessment (PFDHA) for nuclear installations according to IAEA safety standards
In the last 10 yr, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revised its safety standards for site evaluations of nuclear installations in response to emerging fault displacement hazard evaluation practices developed in Member States. New amendments in the revised safety guidance (DS507) explicitly recommend fault displacement hazard assessment, including separate approaches for...
Up to International Science Theme: Hazards