USGS Earthquake Search

Search global earthquake data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. Filter by magnitude, date range, geographic radius, and PAGER alert level. Returns structured seismic event records including magnitude, depth, coordinates, tsunami warnings, and felt reports. No API key required.

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Data Source

USGS Earthquake Hazards Program API (earthquake.usgs.gov). Official federal seismic monitoring data covering global earthquakes from 1900 to present, with near-real-time data for recent events.

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Output Fields

Field	Type	Description
magnitude	number	Earthquake magnitude (Richter scale equivalent)
place	string	Human-readable location description
time	string	Event time in UTC
depth	number	Hypocentral depth in kilometers
latitude	number	Epicenter latitude (decimal degrees)
longitude	number	Epicenter longitude (decimal degrees)
tsunami	boolean	True if a tsunami message was issued for this event
alert	string	PAGER alert level: green, yellow, orange, or red

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Use Cases

• Catastrophe risk modeling -- retrieve historical seismic events by location and magnitude for insurance, reinsurance, or engineering risk assessments.
• Real-time monitoring feeds -- pull recent significant earthquakes for alerts, dashboards, or downstream notification systems.
• Property and infrastructure risk analysis -- search historical earthquake activity within a defined radius of a location to assess seismic exposure.
• Academic and geoscience research -- extract structured seismic data for statistical analysis, machine learning, or geological studies.
• Emergency management -- identify major events with PAGER orange/red alerts for disaster response planning or resource allocation.
• Media and public information -- surface notable recent earthquakes with structured details for news applications or public safety tools.

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How to Use

Set the input fields and run the actor. Results are pushed to the Apify dataset and can be exported as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchType	string	search	search for a custom query, or significant for M4.5+ events in the last 30 days
minMagnitude	number	4.0	Minimum earthquake magnitude
maxMagnitude	number		Maximum earthquake magnitude. Leave 0 for no upper limit
startDate	string		Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to 30 days ago if not set
endDate	string		End date in YYYY-MM-DD format
latitude	number		Center latitude for radius search (e.g., 34.0522 for Los Angeles)
longitude	number		Center longitude for radius search (e.g., -118.2437 for Los Angeles)
radiusKm	number		Search radius in kilometers from the center point
alertLevel	string		PAGER alert level filter: green, yellow, orange, or red
orderBy	string	time	Sort order: time (newest first), magnitude (largest first), or time-asc (oldest first)
maxResults	integer	50	Maximum events to return (1-20000)

Example -- Recent Significant Earthquakes

{
  "searchType": "significant",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Example -- Major Earthquakes Globally in 2024

{
  "searchType": "search",
  "minMagnitude": 6.0,
  "startDate": "2024-01-01",
  "endDate": "2024-12-31",
  "orderBy": "magnitude",
  "maxResults": 500
}

Example -- Earthquakes Near Los Angeles (50 km radius)

{
  "searchType": "search",
  "minMagnitude": 2.5,
  "latitude": 34.0522,
  "longitude": -118.2437,
  "radiusKm": 50,
  "startDate": "2020-01-01",
  "maxResults": 1000
}

Example -- High-Impact Events with PAGER Orange or Red Alerts

{
  "searchType": "search",
  "minMagnitude": 5.0,
  "alertLevel": "orange",
  "startDate": "2015-01-01",
  "orderBy": "magnitude",
  "maxResults": 200
}

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Cost

• Actor start fee: ~$0.10 per run
• Compute: minimal -- typical runs complete in seconds
• Data cost: $0.005 per result

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Output Formats

Results are available in the Apify dataset viewer and can be exported as:

• JSON
• CSV
• Excel (XLSX)
• XML
• RSS

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FAQ

Do I need a USGS account or API key? No. The USGS Earthquake Hazards API is fully public and requires no authentication.

How current is the data? For recent events, the USGS API typically reflects data within minutes to hours of detection. Historical data goes back to 1900 for significant events.

What is the PAGER alert level? PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) is the USGS system for estimating the likely human and economic impact of an earthquake. Levels: green (limited impact), yellow (regional impact, limited casualties), orange (significant casualties, national response likely), red (severe casualties, international response likely).

What does the tsunami flag indicate? The tsunami field is true if the USGS issued a tsunami message for the event. It does not guarantee that a destructive tsunami occurred -- it indicates that official tsunami monitoring agencies were notified.

How does the radius search work? Provide latitude, longitude, and radiusKm together. The actor will return all earthquakes within that circular area. The maximum supported radius by the USGS API is approximately 20,000 km (global).

What magnitude scale is used? USGS uses multiple magnitude scales depending on the event (Mw, Ml, Mb, etc.). The magnitude field reflects the preferred magnitude as determined by USGS for each event, which is generally the most accurate available.