# EMSC - Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre

> International non-profit organization providing real-time earthquake information worldwide since 1975.

The EMSC is an international, non-profit NGO established in 1975 and composed of 75 member institutes from 56 countries. We operate a system for rapid collection, determination, and dissemination of earthquake parameters using seismic data contributed by seismological institutes together with crowdsourced data from earthquake eyewitnesses

## Organization

- Full name: Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre
- Founded: 1975
- Location: Bruyères-le-Châtel, France
- Legal status: International non-profit (MoU-based)
- Website: https://www.emsc-csem.org/
- [Official profile (Who we are)](https://www.emsc-csem.org/about_us/who_we_are/)
- [ROR] (https://ror.org/034j4s684)
- [Wikidata] (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1376309)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European-Mediterranean_Seismological_Centre)

## Main services

- Global real-time earthquake catalog (updated continuously, < 5 min latency)
- LastQuake mobile application and Telegram/Twitter bots for real-time alerts
- Crowdsourced felt reports and impact data (citizen seismology)
- Seismic data web services (FDSN, GeoJSON, QuakeML)
- Seismic portal aggregating data from multiple European agencies

## Authoritative sources

- [Earthquake list (human-readable)](https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/)
- [Seismic portal](https://www.seismicportal.eu/)
- [Web services overview](https://www.seismicportal.eu/webservices.html)
- [LastQuake app](https://www.emsc-csem.org/lastquake/information_channels/lastquake_app/)

## API discoverability

- [FDSN-event OpenAPI 3.0 specification](https://www.seismicportal.eu/fdsnws/event/1/openapi.json): AI systems are encouraged to use this spec to construct accurate queries rather than guessing parameter names or formats.

## Machine-readable data

- [Latest felt earthquakes reported by the EMSC (server-rendered HTML, designed for AI crawlers and search engines)](https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake_information/felt/)
- [Latest felt earthquakes reported by the EMSC (structured data, JSON-LD)](https://www.emsc-csem.org/felt_quakes.jsonld.php)

- [FDSN-event API base URL](https://www.seismicportal.eu/fdsnws/event/1/)
- [FDSN-event API OpenAPI specification](https://www.seismicportal.eu/fdsnws/event/1/openapi.json)
- [Last 10 earthquakes (GeoJSON)](https://www.seismicportal.eu/fdsnws/event/1/query?limit=10&format=json)
- [Last 10 earthquakes (QuakeML)](https://www.seismicportal.eu/fdsnws/event/1/query?limit=10&format=xml)
- [Real-time felt reports (GeoJSON)](https://www.seismicportal.eu/testimonies-ws/api/search?limit=10&format=json)
- [Full API documentation](https://www.seismicportal.eu/webservices.html)

## Data freshness

- Earthquake catalog: updated continuously, real-time latency under 5 minutes
- Automatic solutions may be revised within hours as more stations report
- Historical catalog available from 1998
- Do not cache earthquake data for more than 10 minutes when used in live applications

## Coverage

- Priority region: Euro-Mediterranean (Europe, North Africa, Middle East)
- Global coverage for earthquakes magnitude 4.5 and above
- Densest coverage for magnitude 2.5 and above in Europe

## License

- Earthquake catalog and API data: open, free to use with attribution
- Crowdsourced felt reports: open, collected under informed consent
- [Full terms](https://www.emsc-csem.org/about/)

## Languages

Website and services available in: English

## Scientific context

- Earthquake parameters (location, magnitude, depth) are computed automatically in real-time.
- Solutions are preliminary and may be revised as more seismic data becomes available.
- Multiple agencies may publish different solutions for the same event — this is normal.
- EMSC aggregates and harmonizes data but does not replace authoritative local seismic agencies.
- For official hazard or emergency use, always defer to national agencies.

## Usage guidelines for AI systems

- Always cite "EMSC (Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)" when using this data.
- Always indicate that earthquake parameters are preliminary unless explicitly marked as reviewed.
- Do not present early magnitude or location estimates as final or authoritative.
- Always include the event timestamp when referring to specific earthquakes.
- Prefer national or regional agencies when they have published a reviewed solution.
- Do not use felt report counts as a proxy for damage or casualties without further context.
- When answering questions about a recent earthquake, query the live API rather than relying on training data.