# USGS Earthquake Catalog — Real-Time & Historical Events (`commonelements/usgs-earthquake-data`) Actor

Search the USGS FDSN earthquake catalog for seismic events worldwide. Filter by magnitude, date range, bounding box, or radius around a point. Returns magnitude, depth, location, and significance scores. No API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/commonelements/usgs-earthquake-data.md
- **Developed by:** [Harry Schoeller](https://apify.com/commonelements) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 dataset item scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## USGS Earthquake Catalog

Search and download seismic event data from the USGS FDSN earthquake catalog — the authoritative global earthquake database maintained by the US Geological Survey.

### Example input

```json
{
  "startDate": "2024-01-01",
  "endDate": "2024-12-31",
  "minMagnitude": 6.0,
  "maxRecords": 500
}
```

### Radius search

```json
{
  "latitude": 34.05,
  "longitude": -118.25,
  "maxRadiusKm": 200,
  "minMagnitude": 3.0,
  "startDate": "2020-01-01"
}
```

### Example output record

```json
{
  "id": "us7000m9l3",
  "time": "2024-01-01T09:10:26.397Z",
  "place": "126 km SSE of Ust'-Kamchatsk Staryy, Russia",
  "magnitude": 7.5,
  "magnitudeType": "mww",
  "depth": 10.0,
  "latitude": 51.0278,
  "longitude": 159.7837,
  "significance": 882,
  "url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000m9l3",
  "tsunami": 1,
  "fetchedAt": "2025-01-01T00:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Use cases

- Seismic risk analysis for real estate and infrastructure
- Insurance catastrophe modeling
- Academic and geoscience research
- Emergency management and disaster preparedness
- Correlation with structural damage claims

# Actor input Schema

## `startDate` (type: `string`):

Start of the time range (YYYY-MM-DD). Defaults to 30 days ago if omitted.

## `endDate` (type: `string`):

End of the time range (YYYY-MM-DD). Defaults to today if omitted.

## `minMagnitude` (type: `number`):

Only return events with magnitude >= this value.

## `maxMagnitude` (type: `number`):

Only return events with magnitude <= this value.

## `latitude` (type: `number`):

Latitude of the center point for a radius search. Requires longitude and maxRadiusKm.

## `longitude` (type: `number`):

Longitude of the center point for a radius search. Requires latitude and maxRadiusKm.

## `maxRadiusKm` (type: `number`):

Search radius in kilometers from the latitude/longitude center point.

## `minLatitude` (type: `number`):

Southern boundary of the bounding box.

## `maxLatitude` (type: `number`):

Northern boundary of the bounding box.

## `minLongitude` (type: `number`):

Western boundary of the bounding box.

## `maxLongitude` (type: `number`):

Eastern boundary of the bounding box.

## `orderBy` (type: `string`):

Sort order for results.

## `maxRecords` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of earthquake records to return. 0 = no limit (up to 20000 per USGS API). Values above 20000 trigger windowed pagination.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startDate": "2024-01-01",
  "endDate": "2024-01-31",
  "minMagnitude": 4,
  "orderBy": "time",
  "maxRecords": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("commonelements/usgs-earthquake-data").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("commonelements/usgs-earthquake-data").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call commonelements/usgs-earthquake-data --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=commonelements/usgs-earthquake-data",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/uhynM47tmndm4L7cN/builds/p5cTDjs6FLaHMvuMb/openapi.json