Click any quake on the map to see Recent 5 + Historical Top 5 within scope. Source: USGS Earthquake Hazards Program · refreshed every minute
Shaking model: Boore-Atkinson 2014 GMPE (simplified, informed by Tohoku/Loma Prieta/Northridge). Building footprints: FEMA USA Structures (~125M structures >450 sq ft). Historical context: USGS FDSN catalog (1900–present). Educational use only — not for emergency planning. For real preparedness: ready.gov/earthquakes
QuakeSimulator answers a question no other public tool answers: "If a magnitude X earthquake hit HERE, what would happen near me?"
This is not precision engineering — go to the government sites for that. This is one engineer with a milk crate and some duct tape that happens to be manufactured by a Crazy Uncle from Iowa Industries (Dubuque) and distributed by Steve Erkal's Building Supply. It's Memphis-approved — that's what's holding all this together. Real numbers? FEMA Hazus, USGS ShakeMap. Not us.
USGS earthquake feeds + FDSN catalog · OpenStreetMap Nominatim (geocoding) · Esri World Imagery (satellite) · USGS National Seismic Hazard Model 2023 (faults) · USACE National Structures Inventory (NSI) · FHWA National Bridge Inventory (NBI) · FEMA / Oak Ridge National Laboratory USA Structures (county counts) · FCC Block API (lat/lon → FIPS reverse geocoding).
SnapBasin LLC — civic-tech engineering tools company. Sister tools: SnapBasin · Watershed Pulse · Space Pulse · Quantum Pulse.
Educational use only. Not for emergency planning, structural engineering, or insurance underwriting. Not affiliated with USGS, USACE, FEMA, FHWA, or any government agency. No tracking.
QuakeSimulator predicts ground shaking intensity using a Ground Motion Prediction Equation (GMPE) — the same kind of equation USGS and FEMA use professionally, simplified for citizen-facing use.
log₁₀(PGA) ≈ -2.0 + 0.5·M − 1.5·log₁₀(R + 10) − 0.0018·R
Where M is magnitude, R is distance to epicenter (km), PGA is Peak Ground Acceleration (g). Coefficients informed by real events: Tohoku 2011 (M9.1), Loma Prieta 1989 (M6.9), Northridge 1994 (M6.7). The final −0.0018·R term is anelastic attenuation — seismic energy is absorbed as it travels, so shaking fades faster at long range and large quakes don’t read as “felt everywhere.”
PGA → Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) via USGS Wald 1999 conversion:
Within each shaking ring we query FEMA's USA Structures dataset — every building footprint >450 sq ft, with occupancy class. Three tiers:
returnCountOnly, no dot rendering.For any epicenter we query USGS's FDSN catalog — every recorded earthquake worldwide. We pull the top 10 by magnitude within 400 km (~250 mi) of the chosen epicenter, since 1900. This isn't to discourage simulation — it's to show you what's actually shaken this region before.
Local soil amplification (Vs30 site class), liquefaction, surface rupture, tsunami generation, building-specific structural response, fires, landslides, year-built or seismic-class of any individual building. USA Structures gives us footprints — not the construction details that would let us predict damage. What you see is exposure: which buildings sit where the shaking is. For professional analysis: FEMA Hazus or USGS ShakeMap.
Single developer. About to be a 49‑year‑old father of four — three teenagers at home.
If you see something wrong, please let me know — I’ll change it as soon as I can. I’ll credit you if you want the credit.
Some labs are better than others; a few have obvious broken bits I’m still working through. Some were built early, some late — they don’t all look the same, but they share a feel.
✉️ info@hydraulictoybox.com