EarthquakeController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Earthquake;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class EarthquakeController extends Controller
{

    public function index(Request $request)
    {
        
        //Accessing earthquake model instance to run mysql queries.
        $response = Earthquake::orderBy('happened_at', 'desc')
            ->when($request->get('search'), function ($query, $search) {
                //When request has search parameter apply this filter.
                $query->where('region', 'like', '%' . $search . '%');
            })->simplePaginate();//Automatically creates pagination
        
        //return this model object as response. Laravel will convert this object to json response automatically.
        return response($response);
      
    }
    
}