A Year of Earthquakes

On April 25, 2015, a massive earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Nepal. Since then, multiple aftershock tremors of magnitude 6 and greater have caused devastating casualties and damage in Kathmandu and its neighboring areas. Papua New Guinea, too, was in close proximity to a 7.1-magnitude earthquake earlier today. As our thoughts are with the affected families and communities, we’ve updated our earthquakes web explorer with the most recent data to shed light on the immensity of the recent earthquakes and their aftershocks. To donate to the relief effort, please visit one of the organizations from this list.

Drag the bar along the timeline to scrub through the year of earthquakes. The options on the right toggle population density and mortality risk overlays. Click the zoom button, and drag your mouse within the frame to explore the map in more detail. While zoomed in, hover your mouse over the yellow circles to see more information on each earthquake. To read more, visit our blog post.

Population, risk, and world map data were provided by the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center. Earthquake data was sourced from the USGS. The tectonic plate map is from Wikimedia, and based on a USGS map.