When the earth shakes or the hurricane comes — we see it instantly
Earthquakes and tropical cyclones happen suddenly. So that you don't hear about them first on Twitter, we run two of our own live pipelines: one gathers seismic events from many official networks worldwide, the other tracks hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones worldwide from four official sources — all on a single map.
Part 1 · Earthquakes worldwide
Eleven networks, one mapWhat we doMany eyes instead of a single source
There is no single earthquake catalogue. Every country measures with its own station networks, assigns its own magnitudes and publishes at different times. A quake in Granada often appears first at Spain's IGN, a quake in Turkey at KOERI, an Atlantic quake at the US USGS, a quake in New Zealand at GeoNet.
Instead of relying on a single source, we query many large networks in parallel — global and regional. That usually means you are informed within a few minutes of the event, no matter where in the world it happens. In addition we integrate tsunami warnings from NOAA and JMA and the GDACS alert levels, which estimate how severe a quake's impact is likely to be.
How the earthquake list is built
Four steps, every 60 secondsQuery sources
Parallel requests to all global and regional networks — each in its native feed format.
Normalise
Magnitude types, depth, time zones, IDs — everything is converted into one uniform schema.
Merge & deduplicate
The same quake often appears in several sources. We detect duplicates spatially and temporally.
Publish
The fresh list lands in the API and on the map immediately — including source labelling.
How is an earthquake actually measured?
From ground vibration to the number on the mapWhen the earth shakes, seismic waves spread through the ground — like ripples on a pond, only in all directions at once. A seismograph records these waves: an inert weight hangs freely while the ground beneath it moves. The difference is recorded as a zig-zag line — the familiar seismogram.
Each measuring station first registers the fast P wave (primary wave, pressure), then the slower S wave (shear wave). The time difference gives the distance to the epicentre. Three or more stations are enough to pin down the exact location by triangulation — and only the amplitudes give the magnitude.
Richter, Mw, Ml — what do the magnitudes mean?
The famous Richter scale dates from 1935 and was originally only intended for quakes in California. Today more modern scales are usually used — but all calibrated so that the numerical values stay comparable:
- Mw — moment magnitude: today the international standard. Based on released energy and reliable even for the strongest quakes.
- Ml — local magnitude (the classic “Richter scale”): good for smaller quakes within a region.
- mb — body-wave magnitude: measured from the fast P waves, often used for deep quakes.
Important to know: the scale is logarithmic. An M6 quake releases about 32 times as much energy as an M5 — and roughly 1,000 times as much as an M4. That is why “only” 1–2 points of difference feel so dramatic.
When several sources report the same quake, we prefer the moment magnitude (Mw); if it is not yet available, we show Ml or mb with a source note. On the map the magnitude is colour-coded: green for M2, yellow for M3, orange for M4, red for M5 and violet from M6.
Tectonic plates — why the earth quakes at all
The ground under our feet moves. Really.The outer shell of the earth is not a single armour of rock but consists of around a dozen large lithospheric plates floating on the viscous mantle. These plates move slowly but steadily — a few centimetres a year, about as fast as your fingernails grow.
Where plates collide, slide past each other or drift apart, stress builds up. When that stress is suddenly released, an earthquake occurs. That is also where volcanoes, deep-sea trenches and mountain ranges form.
This is why earthquakes are not randomly distributed: over 90% of all quakes happen along the plate boundaries — for example on the “Pacific Ring of Fire” around the Pacific, in the Mediterranean between the African and Eurasian plates, or on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
On our earthquake map you can show the plate boundaries as lines — and you will immediately see how tightly the world's quakes line up along them. A very tangible demonstration of plate tectonics in action.
Part 2 · Tropical cyclones
Hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones — worldwideWhat we doEvery cyclone has an official observer
Unlike earthquakes, tropical cyclones have clear responsibilities: the NHC in Miami watches hurricanes in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific, the Japanese JMA is responsible for the western Pacific (typhoons), and the EU system GDACS bundles global warnings. In addition we compute forecast tracks with the ECMWF model.
What you see on our map: active storms with their current position, the best track of past movement, the forecast track and the famous cone of uncertainty — the area in which the centre is likely to lie.
Saffir-Simpson — and why it needs colours
Categories 1 to 5, plus tropical storm and depressionThe Saffir-Simpson scale classifies hurricanes into five categories by their maximum wind speed — plus the weaker tropical storms and depressions below. On our map you can tell the category instantly from the colour:
- Turquoise — tropical depression (< 61 km/h)
- Green — tropical storm (< 118 km/h)
- Yellow — hurricane Cat. 1 (< 153 km/h)
- Orange — hurricane Cat. 2 (< 177 km/h)
- Red — hurricane Cat. 3 (< 208 km/h)
- Dark red — hurricane Cat. 4 (< 251 km/h)
- Violet — hurricane Cat. 5 (≥ 252 km/h)
Important: the scale describes only the wind. The greatest damage often comes from storm surge and rain — so even an “only” Cat-1 storm can be catastrophic if it moves slowly.
What you should know
Limits of our live alertsOur alerts are no substitute for official warning services. If you live in an affected region, always follow the instructions of your national civil-protection authority — for hurricanes the NHC or national weather services, for earthquakes the respective authority.
- Magnitude vs. damage: an M5 at 200 km depth is harmless, an M4 right beneath a city is not.
- First values are preliminary: magnitudes are often revised in the hours after a quake.
- Storm tracks are probability ranges: the cone is large because the atmosphere is chaotic — not because someone was sloppy.
Straight to the live maps
Current earthquakes and tropical cyclones — each with filters, details and source labelling.