earthquake-mcp-server

Search USGS and EMSC seismic data — real-time feeds, event queries, and earthquake counts.

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What it can do

    What data it sees

    Do you need an account

    No: the server works without sign-in

    Search USGS and EMSC seismic data — real-time feeds, event queries, and earthquake counts.

    How to connect

    How to connect earthquake-mcp-server to Claude

    The server address to paste into Claude settings:

    https://earthquake.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    1. Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
    2. Go to Settings → Connectors.
    3. Click Add custom connector.
    4. Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
    5. In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.

    Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.

    Authorization

    After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.

    How to connect earthquake-mcp-server to ChatGPT

    The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:

    https://earthquake.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    1. Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
    2. Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
    3. Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
    4. Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
    5. Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
    6. In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.

    OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.

    Authorization

    On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.

    How to connect earthquake-mcp-server to Cursor

    The server address to paste into Cursor settings:

    https://earthquake.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.

    Manually:

    1. In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
    2. Paste the JSON copied below into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (per project: .cursor/mcp.json in the repo root).
    3. Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.

    Authorization

    If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.

    Server tool list (4)

    Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.

    earthquake_get_feedFetch a USGS pre-computed real-time earthquake feed by magnitude tier and time window. These feeds are CDN-cached by USGS and faster and more available than the query API — use them for "what's happening now" queries. "all" includes microseisms (M<1); "significant" is a USGS curation based on magnitude, felt reports, and PAGER impact estimates. "hour" returns 0–10 events typically; "month" can exceed 10,000 for the "all" tier, so results are returned a page at a time: count is the page size, totalCount the whole feed, and nextCursor the input for the following page. The cursor is opaque and must be passed back verbatim — unlike earthquake_search, these feeds have no upstream paging parameter and USGS regenerates them about once a minute, so a numeric offset across two calls would skip or repeat events. For historical or filtered queries, use earthquake_search instead.
    earthquake_searchSearch earthquakes by time range, magnitude, depth, location radius, PAGER alert level, or felt reports. Supports USGS (global, richer metadata: PAGER, DYFI, ShakeMap) and EMSC, an independent global catalog operated by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. For location-based queries, provide latitude, longitude, and radius_km together. A rectangular study area is expressed with min_latitude, max_latitude, min_longitude, and max_longitude — each independently optional, so a single edge is a valid constraint. Combining the box with the lat/lon/radius circle intersects the two, returning only events inside both. Both catalogs include non-tectonic records (quarry blasts, explosions) — every event carries its event_type, and event_type="earthquake" filters the rest out on USGS. USGS-specific filters (alert_level, event_type, min_felt, min_significance) are not sent when source=emsc — the response names them in ignoredFilters. Use earthquake_count first to gauge result size before requesting large result sets. A single call returns at most 20,000 events; larger result sets are retrieved by paging with offset, which is passed straight through to the upstream FDSN API. When a result is capped, nextOffset carries the offset for the following page and totalCount the full match count — or countUnavailable reports that the count lookup failed and the total is unknown.
    earthquake_get_eventFetch detail for a specific earthquake by USGS event ID. Returns the same normalized event a search result carries, plus a projection of the analysis products only the single-event response holds: PAGER impact alert and report link, ShakeMap peak intensity and ground motion, DYFI felt-report totals, the moment-tensor focal mechanism, landslide and liquefaction alerts, origin quality (azimuthal gap, station count, location uncertainty), and finite-fault rupture dimensions. Products are omitted when USGS produced none — a small automatic event typically has no detail at all, while a large reviewed one has most of it. Event IDs appear in the "id" field of earthquake_get_feed and earthquake_search results. This tool is USGS-only — EMSC events have no per-event detail endpoint.
    earthquake_countCount earthquakes matching filters without fetching full records. Use for statistical queries ("how many M5+ earthquakes in 2025?") or to gauge result size before calling earthquake_search. Omitting start_time counts only the last 30 days, so pass an explicit range for any period-specific question; queryEcho reports the window and filters the count actually covers. When exceeds_limit is true, the count exceeds 20,000 and a full search would be truncated — narrow filters before fetching. USGS returns the max_allowed cap (20,000); EMSC count endpoint does not return this field (max_allowed will be null). Counts can be scoped to a rectangular study area with min_latitude, max_latitude, min_longitude, and max_longitude — each independently optional. Combining the box with the lat/lon/radius circle intersects the two, counting only events inside both. Both catalogs include non-tectonic records, so a radius over a mining region counts quarry blasts alongside earthquakes — pass event_type="earthquake" on USGS to exclude them. USGS-specific filters (alert_level, event_type, min_felt, min_significance) are not sent when source=emsc — the response names them in ignoredFilters.