QuakeShake: Ireland’s Citizen Seismology Programme

When you think of Ireland, earthquakes might not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, Ireland does experience small magnitude earthquakes. Thankfully these earthquakes do not pose any safety risks. Many Irish people are unaware of this seismicity. Powered by Raspberry Shake seismometers, the QuakeShake programme is changing how Irish people engage with Irish earthquakes and Earth science in general.

Launched by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) in partnership with Geological Survey Ireland in 2023, QuakeShake is Ireland’s citizen seismology initiative. DIAS also operates the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) in co-operation with Geological Survey Ireland. The QuakeShake programme began as a pilot initiative, equipping a select number of schools and UNESCO Global Geopark’s across Ireland with Raspberry Shake seismometers. The goal? Build a grassroots seismic network and inspire public engagement through real-time data and interactive tools.

In the mid-2000s, DIAS had previously run a successful seismic programme for schools called Seismology in Schools (SiS). We want to build on the success of this programme and introduce seismology not only to school students but to the general public as well.

Today, thanks to support from Research Ireland’s Discover Programme, QuakeShake is rapidly expanding – with over 70 Raspberry Shake devices purchased for Ireland’s classrooms, living rooms, and heritage sites.

QuakeShake’s impact extends beyond physical seismometers. Our website is a hub of accessible content: from explaining seismic waves in plain English to providing downloadable Raspberry Shake setup guides and visualization tutorials.

We developed an interactive exercise called ‘Locating the Epicentre of an Irish Earthquake’. The aim of this exercise is to locate an epicentre using waveform data recorded by Raspberry Shake seismometer stations in Ireland. Owning a Raspberry Shake is not necessary to complete this exercise. The exercise is available for download in both, colour and black & white versions. The answers and student materials are also available in Irish, our native language. This exercise and other seismic presentations can be found for download on our Activities page here.

QuakeShake has a lively presence on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, BlueSky and Facebook, everywhere as @quakeshake_

Our social media pages are regularly updated with posts about upcoming events and earthquake updates, simplifying complex earthquake information through visuals, infographics, and concise posts, making earthquake science more accessible to a wide audience. For example, Ireland experienced a substantial storm last January called Éowyn. The impact of this storm was evident across our seismometer network, as power outages left many Raspberry Shake stations offline due to no electricity.

We publish a quarterly newsletter for the QuakeShake community, delivering valuable insights into upcoming QuakeShake events, information on recent earthquakes (both global and Irish), and updates on previous community events. It serves as an engaging resource for members of the community. We also use the newsletter to announce raffles for the public to host a Raspberry Shake in their home. To date we have raffled 10 Raspberry Shakes to members of the public.

In October 2024 we hosted a workshop for Secondary School teachers in a central county in Ireland. This was our first continuing professional development workshop. Fifteen educators attended in total, and each teacher received a lot of goodies including a Raspberry Shake, Slinkies, and ‘Locating the Epicenter of an Irish Earthquake Exercise’ lesson plans for their schools.

In November 2024 we hosted a workshop for the general public. We chose Letterkenny in Co. Donegal as the location for this workshop, as this county is Ireland’s most seismically active region. Over 60 people attended this workshop, which covered how the QuakeShake programme operates and how we utilise seismic data from our Raspberry Shakes to bolster our permanent Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) data. We raffled 25 Raspberry Shakes to attendees. Since November 2024, Raspberry Shakes installed from this workshop have recorded three earthquakes in County Donegal that wouldn’t have been located using just our permanent INSN stations. We really enjoyed interacting with the public face-to-face, and they found the Shakes easy and simple to install.

We hope to organise more workshops both for teachers and the general public in 2025. We also plan to host an online QuakeShake community Zoom meetup for everyone in Ireland currently hosting a Raspberry Shake.

QuakeShake attends numerous outreach events during the year. We love attending events like the BT Young Scientist Exhibition, Culture Night and occasional school visits. We always try to stream a Raspberry Shake and engage the public to jump and ‘make their own earthquake’. Our technical officer Paddy Smith has developed a programme that can measure the magnitude of someone jumping beside the Raspberry Shake seismometer. This has been a great hit with the public.

QuakeShake aims to continue to strengthen Ireland’s seismic network by developing new resources for the public and deepening engagement with its growing community of citizen seismologists through more workshops, events, and collaborative opportunities.