173 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 4.8 on 2021-07-29 — about 1,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.0 164 km SE of Chignik, Alaska · 44 km SW of this epicentre Sep 4, 1989
2. 6.9 143 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska · 32 km NW of this epicentre Feb 13, 1951
3. 6.9 171 km SW of Akhiok, Alaska · 15 km NNE of this epicentre Feb 6, 1964
4. 6.2 148 km SSW of Akhiok, Alaska · 48 km ENE of this epicentre Nov 10, 1944
5. 6.1 210 km SE of Chignik, Alaska · 49 km SSE of this epicentre Nov 15, 1955

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 55.5947, -155.9289. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.8 156 km SSW of Akhiok, Alaska 03:14 UTC
2. 3.0 159 km SSW of Akhiok, Alaska 19:07 UTC
3. 2.3 180 km SSW of Akhiok, Alaska 19:05 UTC
4. 2.5 174 km SE of Chignik, Alaska 23:28 UTC
5. 3.4 150 km SSW of Akhiok, Alaska 02:08 UTC
6. 2.4 182 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska 07:48 UTC
7. 2.5 151 km SW of Akhiok, Alaska 15:50 UTC
8. 2.9 137 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska 01:54 UTC
9. 1.9 167 km SW of Akhiok, Alaska 15:47 UTC
10. 4.8 137 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska 14:12 UTC
11. 3.1 south of Alaska 15:34 UTC
12. 2.7 168 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska 04:08 UTC
13. 2.0 157 km SW of Akhiok, Alaska 16:58 UTC
14. 2.5 147 km SW of Akhiok, Alaska 02:34 UTC
15. 2.3 167 km SW of Akhiok, Alaska 00:58 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:07 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.