Earthquake Monitor Plugin

Earthquake Monitor is a customizable widget that shows an overview of earthquakes around the world from the U.S. Geological Surveys data. You can show this in a widget (or multiple widgets) or use the shortcode [eqmonitor]. All requests can be cached so it won’t slow down your site.

Arbitrary section

• The display format field is now a customizable field. You determine how the widget displays the links within the ‘limits’ of this widget.
• You are allowed to use HTML tags in the display format field.
• If you make the Location linkable it will link to the USGS website providing detailed information about the quake.
• The date format is compatible with the date() function of PHP. See date for more information.
• According to the USGV website the feeds for the past hour,day and 7 days are updated every 5 minutes. The 30 day feeds are updated every 15 minutes.
• Don’t configure the cache timer too low. It will retrieve a fresh feed from an external website when the site loads. This can impact your loading times. I recommend 3600 seconds (1 hour)

Some examples to show you how the template variables work

Aprox. {hrtime} ago an earthquake with the {mag} struck {locreg} (Time {time}) . The exact latitude = {lat} and the longitude = {long}. The quake was measured at {depth_m} km depth.

would be parsed into

Aprox. 2 hours ago an earthquake with the M 0.4 struck Northern California (Time Thu 21:33:17 (UTC)) . The exact latitude = 38.8402 and the longitude = -122.8250. The quake was measured at 2.10 km depth.

All earthquakes used by the widget are placed in this HTML frame

<ul> <li>Earthquake text 1</li> <li>Earthquake text 2</li> </ul> Only earthquakes using the shortcode [eqmonitor] can optionally be placed in ordered lists. <ol> <li>Earthquake text 1</li> <li>Earthquake text 2</li> </ol> 

PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) background

PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) is an automated system that produces content concerning the impact of significant earthquakes around the world, informing emergency responders, government and aid agencies, and the media of the scope of the potential disaster.
PAGER results are generally available within 30 minutes of a significant earthquake, shortly after the determination of its location and magnitude. However, information on the extent of shaking will be uncertain in the minutes and hours following an earthquake and typically improves as additional sensor data and reported intensities are acquired and incorporated into models of the earthquake’s source.

Corresponding fatality thresholds for yellow, orange, and red alert levels are 1, 100, and 1,000, respectively. For damage impact, yellow, orange, and red thresholds are triggered by estimated losses reaching $1 million, $100 million, and $1 billion respectively.

When the PAGER information is not known, the color : GREY will be used as default.

For more info about PAGER see : [pager] (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/pager/)

Look and feel of the colors and/or bullets can be adjusted in the CSS file located in the /css folder of this plugin.

Icon / Images

The Tsunami Icon can be changed. It is locatet at /wp-content/plugins/earthquakemonitor/images/tsunami.png
The CSS stylesheet sets the size of this image. Currently it’s 14px by 14px. ( /wp-content/plugins/earthquakemonitor/css/style.css )

Shortcode examples and parameters

Example :

[eqmonitor id="unique1" cachetimer="3600" numberedlist="true" showmax="10" showlink="false" minmagnitude="7" showdaysback="190"] 

Important! Each shortcode entry must have it’s own unique code (max 21 chars) . If no unique ID is provided the feed will not cache properly.
Shows a numbered list with max. 10 results without links to the USGS website for more details, with a min. magnitude of 7 from the last 190 days. Tsunami icons will be shown as if unset it will follow the defaults. Results will be cached for 3600 seconds.

This are all parameters that can be used :

showdaysback = Show events till x days ago. (default = 30) (max = 365) showmax = Show max. results (default = 5) (max = 50) minmagnitude = Min. Magnitute to show (default = 5) (min = -1 , max = 10) showlink = Results will be links to USGS (default = true) showpager = Show pager results (yellow, green , red) colors. (default = true) showtsunami = If a major event was in an oceanic region, show a little tsunami icon. (default = true) numberedlist = Use a numbered list instead of unnumbered (default = false) cachetimer = Numbers of seconds results are cached (default = 3600) id = Unique ID (max 21 chars) for shortcode. Only a-Z and 0-9 allowed. No special chars. 

This widget requires at least PHP 5.3 (also works with PHP 7.25) with json_decode enabled to work.

Search for Earthquakemonitor in WordPress plugins and select “Earthquakemonitor Widget” to installations

alternatively, you can manually install the add on:

1. Upload the folder (and subfolders) of EarthquakeMonitor to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory or search for Earthquake from the wordpress plugin page.
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
3. Add the widget to the sidebar or use the shortcode.
4. Customize the widget.

1. 

   Screenshot of front-end

2. 

   Screenshot of the back-end

3. 

   Screenshot of the shortcode

4. 

   Screenshot of the shortcode parsed

• How does the filter work? => When applying a filter, keep in mind that it filters for city and region. So be as explicit as possible.

• When is the tsunami icon shown and what does it mean? => The Tsunami Icon is shown at major events in oceanic regions. The visibility of this icon does not indicate whether a tsunami has actually occurred or is about to occur. If this icon is visible, more actual information is available via the USGS website (with a link to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)). See http://www.tsunami.gov/ for all current tsunami alert statuses.

• What is a quarry seismic event? => Quarry blasts, underwater explosions, chemcial explosions and other dubious seismic events.

• What does WordPress database error: Got a packet bigger than ‘max_allowed_packet’ bytes mean? => The MySQL Default configuration does not allow large feeds (for example Magnitude +1 for 30 days) to be stored. This can be changed in the configuration of the SQL server. Check [here] (https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/packet-too-large.html) for more information.

• What happens with the database cache after I remove a shortcode? => Cache data older than 24h will be automatically purged , so it is automatically removed.

2.0.4

• Fixed bug in timezone settings

2.0.3

• Fixed a bug that caused a warning in PHP log.
• Tested with up to WordPress 5.5

2.0.2

• Tested with up to WordPress 5.3

2.0.1

• Fixed a bug where pager Unknown elements did not show as ordered list.
• improved cleaning cache when changing any option.
• Removed the redundant option ‘Show tsunami’ If you don’t want to show this, remove you should not include it in the template. Much easier 🙂

2.0.0

• Added a new variable {tsunami}. When enabled in menu and added to the template it shows a tsunami icon when a major event in an oceanic region has occured.
• Added a new variable {type} that will display the type of event (earthquake ,quarry, chemical explosion e.t.c.)
• Added shortcode [eqmonitor] to add (multiple) earthquake lists in pages or posts (more details in the Shortcode examples and parameters section of this readme)
• Switched to Semantic Versioning MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
• All links that take care of JSON data-exchange are now HTTPS (SSL)
• All links to PHP documentation are now HTTPS
• Adjusted the yellow pager color to be a bit more darker (and readable on white backgrounds) (This can be altered in the CSS)
• You can now use this widget multiple times on the same site. Each widget has an unique identifier and uses it’s own unique cache.

1.86

• Fixed a bug with rearanging array after filtering.

1.85

• Fixed a bug in the filtering system causing not to show recent events first.
• Fixed a bug that occasionally caused ‘a non-numeric value encountered’ warning on PHP 7.1 and higher.

1.84

• Tested up to wordpress 5.0-alpha-43249
• Tested with PHP 7.25

1.83

• Tested up to WordPress 5.0-alpha-42155

1.82

• Added timezone selection to show last-updated time in your local timezone instead of UTC only.
• Fixed time display now displayed in the language set in WordPress.
• New screenshot back-end

1.81

• Added Dutch translation files
• Added translation Template for potentional other language translations
• Minor bug fixes

1.80

• Plugin is prepared for internationalization.
• Fixed some bugs that caused warnings / errors due to obsolete code.
• Tested with WordPress 4.8-alpha-39657
• Various code improvements

1.73

Tested with WordPress 4.7.Alpha-38267

1.72

Tested with WordPress 4.5.RC1-37153

1.71

• Tested for wordpress 4.3
• Fixed small bug that might cause a notification on some installations

1.7

• Need PHP v5.3 or higher
• If the earthquake is located in the middle of no-where (not in or near a city or area) it will display the Flinn-Engdahl Region name. This prevents empty rows with only a magnitude showing.
• Added optional display of PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) color codes. ( See [pagers] (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/pager/) )
• Bug fix when names with ‘ appeared in TITLE link.
• Prefixed function-names to be more Unique.
• JSON Feed error is only visible in source code (so it won’t destroy layout)
• Cache function improved (now using database instead of /tmp directory)
• Automatic refresh cache when feed properties are changed.
• New screenshots frontend and back-end.
• Uninstall script present.
• Various readme.txt adjustments.

1.62

• Tested for wordpress 4.2.3
• Minor text adjustments
• Minor aesthetic improvements
• Added banner
• Minor security update

1.61

• Tested for wordpress 4.0. No new features.

1.6

• Removed some old references.
• Removed function warning (if warnings are enabled)
• Added filter functionality.

1.5

• Partly recoded the engine to be up2date with the new feed provided by USGS.
• Removed the filter.
• Removed the location Trim
• Added a more detailed location summary (i.e. 32km N of Fishhook)

1.4

• Total new display method. Using a template system. This makes it much more customizable
• Added possibility to display the time past since the quake.
• Added possibility to display the time of the last quake.
• Added possibility to display the magnitude (separated from the location)
• Added possibility to display the latitude and longitude of the quake.
• Added possibility to display the depth (Metric (KM) and Imperial (Miles) of he quake.

1.3

• Bug fix : File were not stored at tmp directory.
• Better error handling when RSS file failed to read / refresh
• Build in check if tmp folder is writeable (This application makes use of the tmp folder)

1.2

• Added a filter. Now its possible to search only for earthquakes that have a certain word in the title.

1.1

• Added cache timer to cache the feed.
• Minor bug fixes

1.0

• Initial Release