Usgs Earthquake Scraper

Extract earthquake data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Get magnitude, location, depth, coordinates, tsunami alerts, and significance for seismic events worldwide.

What does USGS Earthquake Scraper do?

USGS Earthquake Scraper fetches seismic event data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program API. It returns detailed information about earthquakes including magnitude, epicenter coordinates, depth, tsunami warnings, PAGER alert levels, and how many people reported feeling the event.

Filter by date range, magnitude, depth, and alert level to get exactly the earthquake data you need.

Why use earthquake data?

The USGS monitors earthquakes globally in real-time. Use cases include:

• Risk assessment — evaluate seismic hazards for insurance, construction, and real estate
• Research — study earthquake patterns, tectonic activity, and seismological trends
• Emergency preparedness — monitor earthquake activity for disaster response planning
• Data journalism — visualize earthquake data on maps for news coverage
• Education — build interactive earthquake maps and learning tools
• Insurance analytics — assess earthquake risk for underwriting decisions

How much does it cost?

USGS Earthquake Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing:

Event	Price
Run started	$0.001
Earthquake extracted	$0.0005 per event

Example costs:

• 100 earthquakes M5+: ~$0.051
• 500 earthquakes M4+: ~$0.251
• All M6+ earthquakes in 2025: ~$0.05-0.10

Platform costs are minimal. The USGS API is free and requires no authentication.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
startTime	string	Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)	Required
endTime	string	End date (YYYY-MM-DD)	Today
minMagnitude	number	Minimum magnitude (0-10)	4.0
maxMagnitude	number	Maximum magnitude (0-10)	-
minDepth	number	Minimum depth in km	-
maxDepth	number	Maximum depth in km	-
alertLevel	string	PAGER alert: green, yellow, orange, red	Any
maxResults	integer	Maximum earthquakes (1-20000)	500

Input example

{
  "startTime": "2026-01-01",
  "endTime": "2026-03-01",
  "minMagnitude": 5.0,
  "maxResults": 100
}

Output example

Each earthquake is returned as a JSON object:

{
  "id": "us7000q1k2",
  "title": "M 7.1 - 55 km NNW of Kota Belud, Malaysia",
  "magnitude": 7.1,
  "magnitudeType": "mww",
  "place": "55 km NNW of Kota Belud, Malaysia",
  "time": "2026-02-22T10:30:45.000Z",
  "latitude": 6.83,
  "longitude": 116.26,
  "depth": 619.8,
  "tsunami": true,
  "alert": "green",
  "significance": 776,
  "felt": 42,
  "cdi": 5.2,
  "mmi": 3.8,
  "status": "reviewed",
  "type": "earthquake",
  "url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000q1k2",
  "detailUrl": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?eventid=us7000q1k2&format=geojson",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-03T04:54:44.000Z"
}

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
id	string	USGS event identifier
title	string	Event summary (magnitude + location)
magnitude	number	Earthquake magnitude
magnitudeType	string	Magnitude type (mww, mb, ml, etc.)
place	string	Location description
time	string	Event time (ISO 8601)
latitude	number	Epicenter latitude
longitude	number	Epicenter longitude
depth	number	Depth in kilometers
tsunami	boolean	Whether a tsunami warning was issued
alert	string	PAGER alert level (green/yellow/orange/red)
significance	number	Significance score (0-1000+)
felt	number	Number of felt reports
cdi	number	Community Determined Intensity
mmi	number	Modified Mercalli Intensity
status	string	Review status (automatic/reviewed)
type	string	Event type (earthquake, quarry blast, etc.)
url	string	USGS event page URL
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp of extraction

How to use the USGS Earthquake API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("automation-lab/usgs-earthquake-scraper").call(run_input={
    "startTime": "2026-01-01",
    "minMagnitude": 5.0,
    "maxResults": 50,
})

for eq in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    tsunami = " TSUNAMI" if eq["tsunami"] else ""
    print(f"M{eq['magnitude']:.1f} {eq['place']}{tsunami}")
    print(f"  {eq['time'][:10]} depth={eq['depth']:.1f}km ({eq['latitude']:.2f}, {eq['longitude']:.2f})")

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/usgs-earthquake-scraper').call({
    startTime: '2026-01-01',
    minMagnitude: 5.0,
    maxResults: 50,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach(eq => {
    console.log(`M${eq.magnitude} ${eq.place} (${eq.depth}km deep)`);
});

Integrations

Connect USGS Earthquake Scraper to apps:

• Google Sheets — export earthquake data for analysis
• Slack / Microsoft Teams — earthquake alerts for significant events
• Zapier / Make — trigger workflows on new earthquake data
• Webhook — pipe data to your own monitoring system

Tips and best practices

1. Use date ranges — always specify startTime to avoid pulling the entire earthquake catalog.
2. Magnitude filtering — M4+ captures moderate earthquakes; M5+ for significant ones; M6+ for major events.
3. Tsunami flag — the tsunami field indicates whether a tsunami advisory was issued, not whether one occurred.
4. Alert levels — PAGER alerts (green/yellow/orange/red) indicate estimated impact severity.
5. Significance score — combines magnitude, felt reports, and impact. Higher = more significant event.
6. Depth matters — shallow earthquakes (< 70km) tend to cause more surface damage than deep ones.
7. Schedule for monitoring — set up daily/hourly runs to track seismic activity over time.

FAQ

Q: How current is the data? A: USGS publishes earthquake data within minutes of detection. Most events appear in the API within 5-10 minutes.

Q: Does it cover the whole world? A: Yes. USGS monitors earthquakes globally, though coverage is most detailed in the United States.

Q: What does the significance score mean? A: It combines magnitude, felt reports, estimated impact, and other factors into a 0-1000+ score. A score above 600 indicates a significant event.

Q: Does it need an API key? A: No. The USGS Earthquake API is completely free and open.