The Nepal earthquake on Saturday devastated the region and killed over 2,500 people, with more casualties mounting across four different countries. The first 24 hours of a disaster are the most important, and first-responders scramble to get as much information about the energy and geological effects of earthquakes as they can. Seismometers can help illustrate the location and magnitude of earthquakes around the world, but for more precise detail, you need to look at three-dimensional models of the ground's physical displacement.

The easiest way to characterize that moving and shaking is with GPS and satellite data, together called geodetic data. That information is already used by earthquake researchers and geologists around the world to study the earth's tectonic plate movements—long-term trends that establish themselves over years. But now, researchers at the University of Iowa and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have shown a faster way to use geodetic data to assess fault lines, turning over reports in as little as a day to help guide rapid responses to catastrophic quakes.