WebProNews

WebProNews is based in Kentucky, where we're relatively safe from many types of natural disasters.  We felt something between a large rumble and a small rattle following Illinois's earthquake, however, which makes it more interesting on a personal level that Google Maps is being used to track other recent quakes.

On the Google LatLong Blog, Qiushuang (Autumn) Zhang writes, "Reno, Nevada has been shaking things up the past few weeks with a series of frequent earthquakes.  The Reno Gazette-Journal has been keeping tabs on the activity with a My Map they've put on their website."

 Google Map Of Quakes

Given how unpredictable earthquakes have historically been, any map might be considered worthless.  Only this one appears to point to something.  Zhang notes, "Looking at this map is pretty interesting, because the pattern of the earthquakes looks like it's following a faultline.  I've also been keeping an eye on the action with the USGS real-time earthquakes Mapplet and Google Earth layer."

Hopefully there won't be any more earthquakes, making this a moot point.  The development at least goes to show what a go-to resource Google has become in disasters, though, with fires, floods, and hurricanes in its past.

Also - and we probably wouldn't point this out if the earthquakes had caused any injuries or damage - using Google Maps to cover a disaster seems like a good way for people and newspapers to get a link from Google LatLong.