Get full detail for a single earthquake by its USGS event id (e.g. "us7000n7n8"). Returns magnitude, location, time, depth, felt reports, tsunami flag, PAGER alert level, status, contributing networks, and detail URLs. Keyless.
AI agents call get_earthquake to retrieve information from Usgs Earthquakes without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
event_id | string | Yes | USGS event id, e.g. "us7000n7n8". |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
This is a straightforward data retrieval tool that queries publicly available earthquake information. It performs no writes, deletions, code execution, or financial operations. The worst-case misuse would be information disclosure or excessive API querying, which poses minimal harm. Marked keyless, so no authentication risk. Low severity appropriate for public data access.
From the tool's definition The tool 'get_earthquake' retrieves data for a single earthquake event by querying the USGS Earthquake Catalog.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get full detail for a single earthquake by its USGS event id (e.g. "us7000n7n8"). Returns magnitude, location, time, depth, felt reports, tsunami flag, PAGER alert level, status, contributing networks, and detail URLs. Keyless. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Usgs Earthquakes MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
get_earthquake accepts 1 parameter: event_id. Required: event_id. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Usgs Earthquakes MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_earthquake: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Usgs Earthquakes. Nothing to install.
get_earthquake is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the get_earthquake rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for get_earthquake. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
get_earthquake is provided by the Usgs Earthquakes MCP server (pipeworx-io/mcp-usgs-earthquakes). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Every MCP server has a record like this.
Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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