What is the Ring of Fire on this site?
It is the union of documented Pacific rim lat/lon rectangles on the About page, used as a filter on the earthquake and volcano maps. USGS also uses “Pacific Ring of Fire” for the active margin of the Pacific plate. Our rectangles are an approximation of that belt, not an official plate polygon.
Does Ring of Fire predict earthquakes or eruptions?
No. The site shows USGS earthquake feeds, a Smithsonian volcano snapshot, and explainers. It does not give a city, a date, or a time for a future earthquake or eruption. Scenario pages are labeled as scenarios.
What is the difference between magnitude and intensity?
Magnitude is one number for the earthquake’s size. Intensity is how hard the ground shakes at a particular place, on the Modified Mercalli scale in the United States. USGS says each whole magnitude step is about ten times the measured amplitude and about 32 times the energy.
Is Hawaii part of your Ring of Fire?
No. Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are intraplate hotspot shields in the Smithsonian file, and their coordinates fall outside every rectangle this site uses. Popular maps sometimes draw them inside the ring anyway.
What is the largest earthquake on the USGS list since 1900?
USGS lists the 22 May 1960 Valdivia, Chile, earthquake at magnitude 9.5, at 19:11 UTC, epicenter 38.14°S, 73.41°W. Second is the 1964 Alaska earthquake at magnitude 9.2.
What should I do during an earthquake?
USGS says: if you are indoors, stay there, get under a desk or table and hold on, and stay clear of windows. If you are outside, get into the open. If you are driving, stop clear of bridges and stay in the car until the shaking stops.
What is the difference between a tsunami warning and an advisory?
A warning means flooding may be widespread and evacuation is recommended. An advisory means strong currents or waves dangerous to people in or very near the water; stay off beaches and out of the water. A watch means a tsunami is possible. An information statement usually means no destructive threat.
Where do the volcano locations come from?
A Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program Holocene volcano snapshot fetched 19 September 2026 and saved as data/volcanoes.json. It is not a live eruption feed.
Is the New Madrid seismic zone on the Ring of Fire?
No. It is an intraplate zone in the central United States. USGS describes three large earthquakes there in the winter of 1811–1812, with estimated magnitudes around 7.3 to 7.5. Our Pacific rectangles do not cover it.
What does a volcano’s last-eruption year mean?
It is a year code in the Smithsonian snapshot. A year of 2026 means the fetched file recorded activity in 2026. It is not an alert level and not a prediction.
Are the scenario pages forecasts?
No. They are hypothetical what-if briefs. Each one says it is a scenario and not a forecast. The Bay Area page is a Cascadia scenario, not a San Andreas prediction.
How does magnitude relate to energy?
USGS says one whole magnitude step is a tenfold increase in seismogram amplitude and about 32 times more energy. The factor 10 to the power 1.5 is about 31.6, which is the quantity that gets rounded to about 32. The energy tool applies that rule to two numbers you type.
Keep going
The glossary, the region hub, and the guide index are the longer versions of these answers.