Data Sources
QuakeScout aggregates data from authoritative scientific institutions. All earthquake data is sourced from publicly available government and academic datasets.
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program ↗
Primary source for live and recent earthquake data. USGS publishes global seismic event records using information from monitoring networks and partner agencies. Data includes magnitude, depth, location, tsunami flags, and felt reports.
Data Used
Real-time earthquakes, historical events, magnitude data, depth measurements, felt reports, tsunami alerts
Update Frequency
QuakeScout refresh: every five minutes
USGS FDSNWS Event API ↗
The Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN) web service API provides programmatic access to the USGS earthquake catalog.
Data Used
Earthquake search by location, time, magnitude; event details; nearby earthquakes
Update Frequency
Real-time
Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation ↗
Independent scientific initiative used as background reading for earthquake hazard concepts. QuakeScout does not provide property-level or official hazard ratings.
Data Used
General educational context for earthquake hazard and risk terminology
Update Frequency
Reference material
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information ↗
NOAA maintains historical records of significant earthquakes dating back to 2150 BC, including damage reports, fatalities, and tsunami generation data.
Data Used
Historical earthquake records, fatality counts, damage assessments
Update Frequency
Periodically
OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles & OpenStreetMap ↗
Interactive maps use MapLibre GL with a locally hosted OpenFreeMap style. Map tiles are provided by OpenFreeMap/OpenMapTiles and geographic data is credited to OpenStreetMap contributors.
Data Used
Basemap tiles, place labels, roads and geographic context
Update Frequency
Continuous
How QuakeScout scopes geographic data
Cities: the default live view requests M2.0+ events within 100 km of the listed city-center coordinates during the past 30 days. Distance is calculated from epicenter to city center and does not represent shaking intensity.
States and countries: recent events are queried inside the displayed geographic bounding box, normally at M2.5+ for the past 30 days. A rectangular box can include nearby offshore or cross-border events; every regional page displays its exact coordinates.
Historical city context: the chart uses M4.0+ USGS catalog events within 300 km during the ten most recent complete calendar years. It is a catalog summary, not a long-term average, hazard rating or forecast.
Large result sets: interactive lists are capped to protect browser performance. When more records match, QuakeScout requests the total separately and labels the list as truncated rather than presenting it as complete.
Data Accuracy Disclaimer
While we strive to present data as accurately as possible, earthquake measurements (particularly magnitude and depth) may be revised by the USGS after initial reporting. QuakeScout reflects the most recent data available from our sources. This site should not be used as an emergency alert system — always follow official guidance from local authorities during seismic events.
Last reviewed: August 2026. QuakeScout is not affiliated with USGS, GEM, or NOAA.