TerraFault

A free, live earthquake tracker — no login, no ads.

What it is

TerraFault shows recent seismic activity worldwide on a full-bleed map, a ranked list of individual events, and a timeline you can scrub or play back to watch activity unfold over time. Every event comes straight from the USGS FDSN event feed — the same public data source the US Geological Survey's own tools are built on.

Why it exists

Most earthquake trackers are either paid apps or come bundled with ads and accounts. TerraFault is neither: it's a static site that talks directly to USGS from your browser, nothing in between.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the data come from?

Directly from the USGS FDSN event API — no proprietary backend, no delay beyond what USGS itself publishes.

Is it free?

Yes, completely — no account, no paywall, no ads.

How often does the map update?

Changing the date window (hour, day, week, month) fetches fresh data. Every other filter — magnitude, depth, tsunami, felt reports, map bounds — narrows the already-loaded set instantly in your browser, with no extra network round-trip.

Does it track my location or personal data?

Location used to sort events by distance from you stays local to your browser and is never sent anywhere. Separately, if the site operator has monitoring enabled, the site sends session activity, page views, and browser errors to Grafana Cloud (hosted in Australia) so the operator can see whether the site is working — this doesn't include your geolocation.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes — the layout is purpose-built for touch below 900px wide, not a shrunk-down desktop view.