QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

40 km ESE of Old Harbor, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 40 km ESE of Old Harbor, Alaska, at 2:56 pm AKDT on 16 August 2019 (22:56 UTC), 4.2 km deep.

· 4.2 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kodiak Island Borough 103 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.5 (ml)
Depth
4.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kodiak Island Borough, 103 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1866 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 9 km (6 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 lb of TNT

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 since 2016 was M 5.4 on 2017-05-11 — about 710,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.9 47 km S of Old Harbor, Alaska · 45 km SW of this epicentre
  2. 6.2 53 km ESE of Old Harbor, Alaska · 15 km E of this epicentre
  3. 5.9 25 km E of Old Harbor, Alaska · 17 km NW of this epicentre
  4. 5.9 56 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska · 27 km S of this epicentre
  5. 5.7 73 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska · 38 km SSE of this epicentre

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 57.0379, -152.7151. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Kodiak Island Borough, AK 103 km (64 mi) NW earthquakes near Kodiak Island Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 35 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  2. 2.4 64 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  3. 2.4 73 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  4. 1.9 36 km E of Old Harbor, Alaska
  5. 1.9 30 km SSE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  6. 2.0 54 km SSE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  7. 2.0 75 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  8. 1.6 38 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  9. 1.6 25 km NNE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  10. 1.5 40 km SSW of Chiniak, Alaska
  11. 1.5 55 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  12. 2.0 29 km ENE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  13. 1.9 24 km SW of Chiniak, Alaska
  14. 2.0 40 km S of Chiniak, Alaska
  15. 2.2 Kodiak Island region, Alaska

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

On USGS

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