Geoscience Australia modernises earthquakes website
23 May 2018
Geoscience Australia has updated and moved its earthquakes website, www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes, to the "cloud".
Did you know that there are, on average, 100 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more in Australia each year? Earthquakes above magnitude 5.0, such as the destructive 1989 Newcastle earthquake, occur on average every two years; and about every eight years, Australia experiences a potentially damaging earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or more.
Geoscience Australia is Australia's national authority for earthquake information and advice. The agency monitors, analyses and reports on significant earthquakes to alert the Australian Government, State and Territory Governments, and the public about earthquakes in Australia and overseas.
From 23 May 2018, www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes will have a modernised, mobile-friendly design, hosted on Amazon Web Services cloud. The move to a cloud-based platform provides better capacity and flexibility to handle the huge spikes in demand that the website experiences immediately after a significant Australian earthquake.
The website still includes all of the usual information about recent earthquake activity, including a list of recent earthquakes; an earthquake search function; a felt report utility; and the option to subscribe to web services. We've also enhanced our felt report utility. Now, by selecting the 'felt report' map layer, users can see whether people in their area, or elsewhere, have reported feeling an earthquake. The new system, will display any felt reports submitted from today, and continue to display those for up to 7 days.
Geoscience Australia has updated it earthquakes website
The website is an important tool for governments and for the public, providing information on the location and magnitude of earthquakes. We would like your feedback on the new design, and seek your input on any additional features you might like to see. If you have any feedback about the upgraded website, or questions, please email clientservices@ga.gov.au.
Follow us on Twitter @EarthquakesGA and, if you feel an earthquake, be sure to report it by filling in a Felt Report at www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes!