Abstract. It has long been noticed that rapid short-term variations of high energy charged particle fluxes in near-Earth space occur more frequently several hours before the main shock of earthquakes. Physicists wish that this observation supply a possible precursor of strong earthquakes. Based on DEMETER data, we investigate statistical behaviors of flux fluctuations for high energy charged particles in near-Earth space. Long-term clustering, scaling, and universality in the temporal occurrence are found. There is high degree statistical similarity between high energy charged particle fluxes in near-Earth space and earthquakes. Thus, the observations of the high energy particle fluxes in near-Earth space may supply a useful tool in the study of earthquakes.