Did You Feel It? The USGS Wants to Know!
Sharing Can Help California Prepare: If you experience an earthquake, tell the USGS
Crowd sourcing can help scientists better understand earthquakes
The United States Geological Survery or USGS estimates that several million earthquakes happen each year all over the globe. But most of these go undetected because they happen in very remote areas or are very small in magnitude.
If you live in Southern California, dozens of little earthquakes are happening below your feet every single day! Most aren't dangerous and don't do any damage. But that doesn't mean we can't learn from them. That's why the USGS invented “Did You Feel It.”
Did You Feel It is best described as a crowd sourcing site for information about earthquakes. Any time you feel even the smallest tremor, you should hop online and report it. People all over the world are doing just that, and the USGS is compiling data so we all know more about where earthquakes are happening, and why.
Larger “events” reported by thousands of people get “geocoded” and appear on the site's Real-Time Earthquake Map. This is living, breathing, science in action. And if you feel an earthquake, you can be a part of it!