Editing Earthquake (section)

=== Location and reporting ===
{{main|Epicenter}}

Earthquakes are not only categorized by their magnitude but also by the place where they occur. The world is divided into 754 [[Flinn–Engdahl regions]] (F-E regions), which are based on political and geographical boundaries as well as seismic activity. More active zones are divided into smaller F-E regions whereas less active zones belong to larger F-E regions.

Standard reporting of earthquakes includes its [[Richter magnitude scale|magnitude]], date and time of occurrence, [[geographic coordinates]] of its [[epicenter]], depth of the epicenter, geographical region, distances to population centers, location uncertainty, several parameters that are included in USGS earthquake reports (number of stations reporting, number of observations, etc.), and a unique event ID.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geographic.org/earthquakes/real_time_details.php?id=recenteqsww/Quakes/usc000f1s0.php&lat=-10.7377&lon=165.1378 |title=Magnitude 8.0 – SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS Earthquake Details |work=Global Earthquake Epicenters with Maps |author=Geographic.org |access-date=2013-03-13 |archive-date=2013-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514143205/http://geographic.org/earthquakes/real_time_details.php?id=recenteqsww/Quakes/usc000f1s0.php&lat=-10.7377&lon=165.1378 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although relatively slow seismic waves have traditionally been used to detect earthquakes, scientists realized in 2016 that gravitational measurement could provide instantaneous detection of earthquakes, and confirmed this by analyzing gravitational records associated with the [[2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|2011 Tohoku-Oki]] ("Fukushima") earthquake.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/changes-to-earths-gravity-offer-early-earthquake-warning|title=Earth's gravity offers earlier earthquake warnings|access-date=2016-11-22|archive-date=2016-11-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123201125/https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/changes-to-earths-gravity-offer-early-earthquake-warning|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/gravity-shifts-could-sound-early-earthquake-alarm|title=Gravity shifts could sound early earthquake alarm|access-date=2016-11-23|archive-date=2016-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124100006/https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/gravity-shifts-could-sound-early-earthquake-alarm|url-status=dead}}</ref>