# USGS API: List significant earthquakes > Lists significant worldwide earthquakes for the past day, week, or month, newest first, with USGS PAGER alert levels and impact summaries when USGS provides them. Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by USGS. - Page: https://fous.com/methods/earthquake.usgs.gov/list-significant-earthquakes - Method: `earthquake.usgs.gov/list_significant_earthquakes`, version 1 - Website: earthquake.usgs.gov - Returns: magnitude, location, time, alert level, tsunami flag, felt reports, estimated impact summary, coordinates, event ID, details link - Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing) - Sign-in: none needed - Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free - Verified: Nov 2, 2026 ## Inputs | Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description | |---|---|---|---|---| | `period` | string | no | `"past_week"` | Time period to list, for example past_week. One of "past_day", "past_week", "past_month". Default "past_week". | ## Output From a run on Oct 23, 2026, shortened. Its input: ```json { "period": "past_week" } ``` Its output: ```json { "earthquakes": [ { "time": "2026-10-22T14:33:40.353000Z", "event_id": "us6000u43g", "latitude": 32.3805, "location": "191 km ENE of Nagqu, China", "longitude": 93.7797, "magnitude": 7, "alert_level": "orange", "details_link": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000u43g", "felt_reports": 6, "alert_meaning": "significant damage and deaths likely", "tsunami_alert": "no", "estimated_impact_summary": "Orange alert for economic losses. Significant damage is likely and the disaster is potentially widespread. Estimated economic losses are less than 1% of GDP of China. Past events with this alert level have required a regional or national level response. Yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities. S…" }, { "time": "2026-10-20T04:20:38.737000Z", "event_id": "us6000u3jl", "latitude": -13.9906, "location": "197 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu", "longitude": 165.5892, "magnitude": 6.3, "alert_level": "green", "details_link": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000u3jl", "felt_reports": 1, "alert_meaning": "little or no damage expected", "tsunami_alert": "yes", "estimated_impact_summary": "Green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage." }, { "time": "2026-10-17T05:06:57.657000Z", "event_id": "us6000u2y1", "latitude": 28.0179, "location": "48 km WNW of Khuzdar, Pakistan", "longitude": 66.1708, "magnitude": 5.7, "alert_level": "yellow", "details_link": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000u2y1", "felt_reports": 2, "alert_meaning": "some damage and deaths possible", "tsunami_alert": "no", "estimated_impact_summary": "Yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. Some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized. Past yellow alerts have required a local or regional level response. Estimated economic losses are less than 1% of GDP of Pakistan." } ] } ``` ## Run it From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output: ```bash curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"method":"earthquake.usgs.gov/list_significant_earthquakes","input":{"period":"past_week"}}' ``` From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`. ## Ask your agent - Show me the significant earthquakes from the last 24 hours worldwide, newest first, with alert levels. - Which major earthquakes have struck around the world this past week? I need magnitudes, locations, and whether a tsunami was flagged. - List the USGS significant quakes from the past month along with their PAGER impact estimates. - Any big earthquakes recently? Give me the times, coordinates, and felt report counts for the last week. - What significant seismic events were recorded globally over the past month, and what were their estimated impact summaries? ## Input schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [], "properties": { "period": { "enum": [ "past_day", "past_week", "past_month" ], "type": "string", "default": "past_week", "description": "Time period to list, for example past_week." } }, "additionalProperties": false } ``` ## Output schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "earthquakes" ], "properties": { "earthquakes": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "magnitude", "location", "time", "alert_level", "alert_meaning", "tsunami_alert", "felt_reports", "estimated_impact_summary", "details_link", "event_id", "latitude", "longitude" ], "properties": { "time": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Earthquake time in UTC, ISO 8601." }, "event_id": { "type": "string", "description": "USGS event ID." }, "latitude": { "type": [ "number", "null" ], "description": "Epicenter latitude in degrees." }, "location": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Location in words." }, "longitude": { "type": [ "number", "null" ], "description": "Epicenter longitude in degrees." }, "magnitude": { "type": [ "number", "null" ], "description": "Earthquake magnitude." }, "alert_level": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "USGS PAGER alert level, when available." }, "details_link": { "type": "string", "description": "USGS event details page." }, "felt_reports": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ], "description": "Number of public felt reports, when available." }, "alert_meaning": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Expected damage and deaths for this alert level." }, "tsunami_alert": { "enum": [ "yes", "no", null ], "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Whether the event has a tsunami alert flag." }, "estimated_impact_summary": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "USGS estimated impacts when a PAGER summary is available." } }, "additionalProperties": false }, "description": "Significant earthquakes sorted newest first." } }, "additionalProperties": false } ``` ## See more - [USGS API: Search earthquakes near a place](https://fous.com/methods/earthquake.usgs.gov/search-earthquakes.md): Finds recent USGS earthquakes near a city, address, or region, with distances and times in the searched place's time zone. - [USGS API: Get river level](https://fous.com/methods/waterdata.usgs.gov/get-river-level.md): Gets the latest water height, flow, 24-hour trend and flood-stage status at the active USGS river gauge best matching a river or town and state. Flood stage is null when not published; gauges without recent stage, flow or 24-hour history are not returned. - [NASA API: List natural events](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/list-natural-events.md): List EONET natural events with latest observations in the past number of days, most recent first. A country or region filter matches reported event locations against mapped boundaries; locations and ongoing status are approximate, and not all events have a reported size or strength. - [NWS API: List weather alerts](https://fous.com/methods/weather.gov/list-weather-alerts.md): Lists active US weather watches, warnings and advisories for a city, address, ZIP code or state, most severe first, then newest. - [Wildfire.gov API: List active wildfires](https://fous.com/methods/inciweb.wildfire.gov/list-active-wildfires.md): Lists active InciWeb fire incidents in a US state, newest table updates first, with size, containment, location, cause, dates and any evacuation or closure note. Prescribed fires and other fire-related incidents can appear. - [NOAA API: List space weather alerts](https://fous.com/methods/swpc.noaa.gov/list-space-weather-alerts.md): Lists NOAA space weather alerts, warnings, watches and summaries issued in the last 1 to 7 days, newest first, with validity times and NOAA scale levels when the message gives them. - [FEMA API: List disaster declarations](https://fous.com/methods/fema.gov/list-disaster-declarations.md): Lists federal disaster declarations in a US state. You can narrow the list by county, declaration date and incident category. Each disaster comes back with all of its designated counties. - [Google API: List trending searches](https://fous.com/methods/trends.google.com/list-trending-searches.md): Lists Google Trends 'Trending now' searches for a country, time window and category, in Google's order. Each search comes with its volume, activity, related searches and news headlines. - [All USGS methods](https://fous.com/methods/usgs.gov.md)