USGS Earthquake Data Scraper

Fetch real-time and historical earthquake and seismic event data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program — the authoritative public source for global earthquake data. No API key or subscription required.

What you get

Each record represents one earthquake event and includes:

Field	Description
event_id	USGS event ID (e.g. us6000m1n2)
magnitude	Richter/moment magnitude
magnitude_type	Scale used: mw, ml, mb, ms, etc.
place	Human-readable location description
time	ISO 8601 UTC datetime of the event
updated	ISO 8601 UTC datetime of last catalog update
latitude	Epicenter latitude
longitude	Epicenter longitude
depth_km	Depth below surface in kilometres
alert	PAGER alert level: green, yellow, orange, or red
tsunami	1 if a tsunami message was issued, 0 otherwise
significance	USGS significance score 0–1000
felt_reports	Number of "Did You Feel It?" reports submitted
url	USGS event detail page URL
status	automatic, reviewed, or deleted
network	Reporting seismic network code (e.g. us, ci, nc)
scraped_at	ISO 8601 UTC datetime this record was scraped

Modes

recentEarthquakes (default)

Returns earthquakes filtered by magnitude and date range. Ideal for monitoring ongoing seismic activity globally.

Example use case: Get all magnitude 5.0+ earthquakes since the start of 2024.

searchEarthquakes

Same as recentEarthquakes but with full support for geographic bounding boxes and depth filters. Use this when you need earthquakes in a specific region.

Example use case: Get all earthquakes in the contiguous US (lat 24–49, lon –125 to –66) at shallow depth (0–70 km) in the last 6 months.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
mode	select	recentEarthquakes	Fetch mode
minMagnitude	number	4.5	Minimum Richter magnitude
maxMagnitude	number	—	Maximum magnitude (optional upper bound)
startTime	string	2024-01-01	Start date (ISO 8601, e.g. 2024-01-01)
endTime	string	today	End date (leave blank for today)
minDepth	number	—	Minimum depth in km (can be negative)
maxDepth	number	—	Maximum depth in km
minLatitude	number	—	Southern bounding box limit (–90 to 90)
maxLatitude	number	—	Northern bounding box limit (–90 to 90)
minLongitude	number	—	Western bounding box limit (–360 to 360)
maxLongitude	number	—	Eastern bounding box limit (–360 to 360)
orderBy	select	time	Sort order: newest/oldest/largest/smallest first
maxItems	integer	100	Maximum records to return (up to 20 000)

Example inputs

Global M4.5+ earthquakes in 2024

{
  "mode": "recentEarthquakes",
  "minMagnitude": 4.5,
  "startTime": "2024-01-01",
  "maxItems": 500
}

Significant earthquakes in Japan

{
  "mode": "searchEarthquakes",
  "minMagnitude": 3.0,
  "startTime": "2024-01-01",
  "minLatitude": 30,
  "maxLatitude": 46,
  "minLongitude": 129,
  "maxLongitude": 146,
  "orderBy": "magnitude",
  "maxItems": 200
}

All deep-focus earthquakes globally

{
  "mode": "searchEarthquakes",
  "minMagnitude": 4.0,
  "startTime": "2023-01-01",
  "minDepth": 300,
  "maxItems": 1000
}

Recent shallow California earthquakes

{
  "mode": "searchEarthquakes",
  "minMagnitude": 2.0,
  "startTime": "2024-06-01",
  "minLatitude": 32,
  "maxLatitude": 42,
  "minLongitude": -124,
  "maxLongitude": -114,
  "maxDepth": 30,
  "orderBy": "time",
  "maxItems": 500
}

Data source

All data comes from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program public API at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/. This is a free, open government data source — no API key, account, or payment required. Data is updated in real time as seismic events are recorded and reviewed by USGS seismologists worldwide.

Use cases

• Natural disaster monitoring — track earthquake activity in specific regions
• Research & analysis — build datasets of historical seismic events for academic study
• Alerting systems — feed earthquake data into notification pipelines
• GIS mapping — plot epicenters and depths on maps using latitude/longitude fields
• Insurance & risk modeling — assess seismic risk for geographic regions

Frequently asked questions

How fresh is the data? The USGS API returns near-real-time data. Automatic (unreviewed) detections appear within minutes; reviewed records may lag by hours to days.

What is the maximum number of results? The USGS API supports up to 20 000 records per query. Set maxItems up to 20000. For larger datasets, run multiple queries with different date ranges.

What does the significance field mean? Significance is a USGS-computed score (0–1000) that combines magnitude, number of felt reports, and estimated impact. Higher = more significant to people.

What does the alert field mean? The PAGER alert level estimates potential casualties and economic losses: green (little/no impact), yellow (some impact), orange (significant), red (catastrophic).

Can I filter by a circular area around a point? The underlying USGS API supports radius-based queries, but this actor uses the geographic bounding-box approach for simplicity. Use minLatitude/maxLatitude/minLongitude/maxLongitude to define your area.

Are tsunami events included? Yes. The tsunami field is 1 whenever USGS issued a tsunami message for that event.

Do I need an API key? No. The USGS Earthquake Hazards API is completely free and open — no registration or API key required.