About GeoRisk
I built GeoRisk to help people understand what an earthquake could affect near their home and decide what to prepare. It’s my entry for the 2026 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 19th district.
Where the results come from
| Source | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| USGS shaking model | The chance of potentially damaging shaking in 100 years, using the 2023 model for all 50 states. |
| California Geological Survey | Mapped liquefaction and landslide zones, plus tsunami areas, in covered parts of California. |
| USGS landslide maps | Terrain and past landslides across the U.S. These maps include causes other than earthquakes. |
| U.S. Census Bureau | Approximate ZIP areas and address locations. |
| Ready.gov, Earthquake Country Alliance, NOAA | The advice behind your checklist. Fire and service outages are preparation topics; GeoRisk doesn’t assign them a local risk score. |
A ZIP check covers a broad area. An address check uses an estimated point and looks for zones within 100 metres. Shaking estimates use a nearby regional model point. None of these checks can tell you whether a building is safe. Missing map coverage is labeled; it does not mean there is no risk.
What the AI does
A pretrained language model, MiniLM, runs on our server and picks three relevant steps from a checklist based on official advice. Your household choices and available hazard maps guide the selection. If a tsunami zone is found, evacuation planning stays in the list. If AI is unavailable, you still get a basic checklist.
GeoRisk uses an existing model; it was not trained to predict earthquakes or inspect homes. The project was developed with AI coding tools.
Your privacy
No account, ads, or session recording. Your search goes to Census and the map services needed for the check. Map tiles come from OpenStreetMap and Esri; they receive the viewed area and your IP address.
Plans are created automatically. Only household choices and hazard categories go to the AI server—no address, ZIP code, or coordinates. We don’t save your address, household answers, or plan in a database. Request limits use IP hashes that change daily; counters expire within two days. Hosting providers may retain access and security logs.
ZIP share links include the ZIP code. Address results share the homepage without the address. Saved checklists and printed plans leave out location details. Checkmarks stay in the current tab unless you save a checklist.