67 km S of Cantwell, Alaska

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 103 km (64 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 21 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 7,900× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 4.1 about 21 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 45× more

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km (31 mi) since our catalogue begins in 2016. No other earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded this close in that time.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.6 44 km S of Cantwell, AK · 25 km NNW of this epicentre May 29, 1931
2. 5.4 38 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska · 38 km NNE of this epicentre Mar 17, 1979
3. 5.4 54 km NE of Chase, Alaska · 33 km WNW of this epicentre Sep 25, 2010
4. 5.3 49 km S of Cantwell, Alaska · 19 km N of this epicentre Dec 28, 1990
5. 5.1 49 km NE of Chase, Alaska · 33 km W of this epicentre Mar 21, 1991

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 62.7831, -148.8756. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1. 1.8 39 km ENE of Chase, Alaska 13:05 UTC
2. 1.8 57 km SSW of Cantwell, Alaska 21:25 UTC
3. 1.5 65 km S of Cantwell, Alaska 01:22 UTC
4. 1.5 49 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska 11:31 UTC
5. 2.3 66 km NE of Chase, Alaska 13:50 UTC
6. 2.2 62 km NE of Chase, Alaska 09:58 UTC
7. 2.7 46 km S of Cantwell, Alaska 01:44 UTC
8. 1.5 52 km NE of Chase, Alaska 16:46 UTC
9. 2.2 48 km S of Cantwell, Alaska 16:33 UTC
10. 1.5 59 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska 05:08 UTC
11. 3.2 43 km E of Chase, Alaska 04:35 UTC
12. 1.5 42 km E of Chase, Alaska 21:41 UTC
13. 2.6 74 km ENE of Chase, Alaska 22:42 UTC
14. 2.2 48 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska 12:45 UTC
15. 1.7 57 km E of Chase, Alaska 12:04 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:24 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.