Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

United States Earthquake Intensity Database, 1638-1985

Metadata Updated: June 15, 2022

The United States Earthquake Intensity Database is a collection of damage and felt reports for over 23,000 U.S. earthquakes from 1638-1985. The majority of intensities are for U.S. cities, but there are also a few earthquakes and intensities for Panama (1925-1975), the Philippines (1926-1937), and Mexico (1887-1981). The data were compiled from various publications, newspaper reports, and special catalogs. The annual serial "United States Earthquakes," is the principal data source and provides 90 percent of the observations. Most records in the file contain the date and time of occurrence and location of the earthquake, magnitude, focal depth, two-digit state code, name and coordinates of observing city or town, the observed intensity at each town, and the distance from city (or locality) to epicenter. The file consists of more than 150,000 earthquake intensity observations. The data file serves as an important information source for the preparation of intensity histories that are useful for environmental and hazard impact statements. The file is static and is no longer being updated.

Access & Use Information

License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Date June 14, 2022
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date June 15, 2022
Reference Date(s) January 1, 1972 (publication)
Frequency Of Update notPlanned

Metadata Source

Harvested from NGDC MGG Hazards WAF

Graphic Preview

Map of earthquake intensity locations.

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date June 14, 2022
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date June 15, 2022
Reference Date(s) January 1, 1972 (publication)
Responsible Party DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce (Point of Contact)
Contact Email
Guid gov.noaa.ngdc.mgg.hazards:G01142
Access Constraints Distribution liability: NOAA and NCEI make no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding these data, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA and NCEI cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data. If appropriate, NCEI can only certify that the data it distributes are an authentic copy of the records that were accepted for inclusion in the NCEI archives.
Bbox East Long 180.000000
Bbox North Lat 69.000000
Bbox South Lat 4.000000
Bbox West Long -180.000000
Coupled Resource
Frequency Of Update notPlanned
Graphic Preview Description Map of earthquake intensity locations.
Graphic Preview File https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/img/usaint.jpg
Graphic Preview Type jpg
Harvest Object Id 6d39338d-9683-4159-8e1e-6750a62386c4
Harvest Source Id 7b37b703-805c-4a27-b47f-d471f07b5ed7
Harvest Source Title NGDC MGG Hazards WAF
Licence Produced by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Not subject to copyright protection within the United States.
Metadata Language eng; USA
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, 4.0], [180.0, 4.0], [180.0, 69.0], [-180.0, 69.0], [-180.0, 4.0]]]}
Progress completed
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System
Spatial Harvester True
Temporal Extent Begin 1638-06-11
Temporal Extent End 1985-12-31

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.