USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

Overview

The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program FDSN event API serves real-time earthquake data from the US Geological Survey’s monitoring networks: recent quakes worldwide, with magnitude, location, depth, and time. Keyless, government-run, and the canonical source for earthquake feeds and alerts.

Quick Start

Recent earthquakes (GeoJSON, verified live):

curl "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?format=geojson&limit=1"

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "metadata": { "count": 1 },
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "mag": 4.6,
        "place": "22 km NNE of Aksu, China",
        "time": 1724300000000,
        "updated": 1724301000000,
        "url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000..."
      },
      "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [80.5, 41.3, 10.0] }
    }
  ]
}

Significant earthquakes in the last 30 days:

curl "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?format=geojson&eventtype=earthquake&orderby=magnitude&limit=10"

Filter by time window (Unix ms):

curl "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?format=geojson&starttime=2026-08-01&endtime=2026-08-22&minmagnitude=5"

Authentication

None — keyless.

Rate Limits & Notes

• Free, public US government data — no key, generous limits (bulk queries keep a per-IP cap).
• format=geojson is the friendliest output; format=csv also available for spreadsheets.
• Parameters: starttime/endtime (ISO dates), minmagnitude/maxmagnitude, latitude/longitude/maxradiuskm, eventtype.
• The GeoJSON features[].geometry.coordinates is [lon, lat, depth] — longitude first!

FAQ

Is the USGS earthquake API free? Yes — free, keyless, public government data.

How do I get the last 24 hours of quakes? query?format=geojson&starttime=2026-08-21&endtime=2026-08-22&minmagnitude=2.5.

What’s the coordinate order? GeoJSON uses [longitude, latitude, depth] — don’t swap them.