# USGS Earthquake Regional Activity & Impact Gauge

> USGS Earthquake Regional Activity & Impact Gauge is a paid API for AI agents from aeml-x402.zeabur.app, paid per call via x402, $0.25/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Returns a causal-chain snapshot of seismic activity for a named fault/seismic zone, combining upstream swarm signals (USGS event rates), current activity metrics, and downstream impact assessments (ShakeMap MMI, PAGER, NOAA/PTWC tsunami).

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://aeml-x402.zeabur.app/gauge/earthquake-region
- Price: $0.25/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/usgs-earthquake-regional-activity-impact-gauge-682e11d0
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_rUCGyL1QKQL5QQHXjakUn

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability usgs-earthquake-regional-activity-impact-gauge-682e11d0
```

Example prompt: Pull the current earthquake activity gauge for the California San Andreas fault zone — I need the swarm rate signal, latest maximum magnitude, ShakeMap MMI, PAGER population exposure, and any tsunami or aftershock risk flags for our supply chain risk report.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a rapid, source-attributed, multi-signal seismic situational picture for a named fault or seismic zone — especially for supply-chain screening, parametric insurance trigger evaluation, infrastructure risk triage, or humanitarian pre-positioning. Prefer it over raw USGS API calls when you want pre-joined upstream (swarm rates) + downstream (ShakeMap, PAGER, tsunami) signals with provenance hashes and honest data-grade disclosure in a single call. Not suitable as emergency/evacuation/safety guidance or as a predictive forecast.

## Known failure modes

- Unknown or unsupported entity key returns an error or empty legs
- USGS data source temporarily unavailable causes stale or missing legs
- Ambiguous entity string (e.g. generic region name) may match unexpected zone
- Data marked as 'stale' if USGS feed has not updated within expected cadence
- No tsunami data returned if NOAA/PTWC has no relevant active alerts
- ShakeMap/PAGER legs may be absent if no significant recent event in zone
- Payment of 0.1 USDC via x402 required; missing or failed payment returns 402

## How this service works

[3-LEG] Seismic activity chain, one seismic zone (?entity=california-san-andreas): leading swarm rate, USGS micro-event rate rising - DESCRIPTIVE and explicitly not a prediction -> current current max magnitude and count -> realized felt and impact reports (confirmation gate). A sequential chain, not one reading - confidence = how many legs are lit, in order. Sources: USGS. Descriptive only, never a forecast or advice. No data -> 422 no_charge, not billed.

## Output

A structured multi-leg JSON object containing: upstream swarm rate signal (USGS small-event rate trend), current activity legs (max magnitude, event count, significance, depth, tectonic context, tsunami tendency), and downstream impact legs (ShakeMap MMI, PAGER population exposure, NOAA/PTWC tsunami status, aftershock risk). Also includes a cross-line narrative, provenance/data lineage with freshness status, a verifiable Ed25519-signed citation, decision points for re-running with alternate entity tags, and honest disclosure of data grade (screening-level, not decision-grade) and scope (observational, not predictive).

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "type": "string",
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ]
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "additionalProperties": false,
     "properties": {
      "entity": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "required - monitored object id, paired with signal_id; free list at GET /gauge/catalog?signal_id=<signal_id> -> signals[0].entities[]",
       "examples": [
        "california-san-andreas",
        "cascadia-pnw",
        "alaska-aleutians",
        "japan",
        "sumatra-indonesia",
        "philippines"
       ],
       "x-accepted-values": {
        "shown": 6,
        "total": 18,
        "all": "https://api.truthbear.co/schemas/gauge-earthquake-region.input.json"
       }
      }
     },
     "required": [
      "entity"
     ]
    }
   },
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method",
    "queryParams"
   ]
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "const": "json"
    },
    "example": {}
   },
   "required": [
    "type"
   ]
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json"
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/usgs-earthquake-regional-activity-impact-gauge-682e11d0/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from aeml-x402.zeabur.app](https://www.zero.xyz/host/aeml-x402.zeabur.app/llms.txt)