GetEarthquakeProbability API

For a specified location, the GetEarthquakeProbability API returns:

  1. The latitude and longitude of the location.

  2. The current expected rate of earthquakes of specified magnitude over a specified time window.

  3. The current expected probability of experiencing at least one such earthquake.

The GetEarthquakeProbability Web Service is located at: http://api.openhazards.com/GetEarthquakeProbability.

The parameters of the API are:

ParameterDescriptionRequired
q The geographical location to query.  This can be a city name, street address, etc.  The parameter type is a text string.
 Yes
w The calculation window (in days) for the forecast. The parameter type is an integer.  Default value: 365 (1 year).
 No
m
 The magnitude threshold for the forecast. The parameter type is a float.  Default value: 6.0. No
r
 The calculation radius (in km) for the forecast. The parameter type is an integer.  Default value: 50 (approximately 31 miles) . No

The results returned by the API are:

ParameterDescription
location

The resulting parsed location for the calculation:

  • place
  • lat
  • lng
  • radius
forecast

The calculation results:

  • window
  • mag
  • rate
  • prob

Messages and Codes:

The following table summarizes possible return codes from the API:

Error CodeDescriptionResolution
0 No location was specified
 Check if you have provided a geographical location in your API call.
1 Location could not be found Check the provided geographical location for spelling mistakes.

Example

The following request will return the probability of a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurring within 100km of San Francisco over the next 365 days.

Request:

http://api.openhazards.com/GetEarthquakeProbability?q=San+Francisco,+CA&m=6.8&r=100

Response:

<xmlresponse>
    <location>
        <place>San Francisco, CA, USA</place>
        <lat>39.150000</lat>
        <lng>-122.419415</lng>
        <radius unit="km">100.000000</radius>
    </location>
    <forecast>
        <window unit="days">365</window>
        <mag>6.8</mag>
        <rate>0.00930218047778</rate>
        <prob>0.93%</prob>
    </forecast>
</xmlresponse>
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