Real-Time Earthquake Magnitude Classification from Initial P-Waves: Models, Dataset, and Comparative Analysis for South Asia

ArXi:2605.22836v1 Announce Type: cross Rapid earthquake magnitude estimation is crucial for effective early warning systems that can save lives and reduce economic damage. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of magnitude classification using only the vertical component of the initial 7-second P-wave window from a single station. We compare six machine learning approaches that range from traditional models to state-of-the-art deep learning architectures. We also curated a novel dataset of 7,318 earthquake events in South Asia.