170 km S of False Pass, Alaska

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 60 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 16× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 60 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 5.9 on 2016-10-27 — about 350,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 53 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 8.6 The 1946 Unimak Island, Alaska Earthquake · 49 km ENE of this epicentre Apr 1, 1946
2. 6.6 146 km ESE of Akutan, Alaska · 30 km NW of this epicentre Apr 1, 1946
3. 6.2 136 km SE of Akutan, Alaska · 39 km WNW of this epicentre Apr 1, 1946
4. 6.2 136 km S of False Pass, Alaska · 40 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 2, 1946
5. 6.2 172 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska · 44 km E of this epicentre Apr 2, 1946

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 53.3242, -163.5136. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.8 120 km S of False Pass, Alaska 05:58 UTC
2. 3.1 194 km SE of Akutan, Alaska 01:38 UTC
3. 2.2 154 km S of False Pass, Alaska 20:45 UTC
4. 2.4 160 km S of False Pass, Alaska 14:03 UTC
5. 4.4 153 km S of False Pass, Alaska 06:42 UTC
6. 3.3 154 km S of False Pass, Alaska 06:28 UTC
7. 4.4 147 km S of False Pass, Alaska 05:21 UTC
8. 2.4 149 km S of False Pass, Alaska 04:27 UTC
9. 4.5 152 km S of False Pass, Alaska 03:42 UTC
10. 4.4 129 km S of False Pass, Alaska 22:59 UTC
11. 2.6 170 km S of False Pass, Alaska 09:19 UTC
12. 3.0 151 km S of False Pass, Alaska 00:21 UTC
13. 2.8 162 km S of False Pass, Alaska 21:16 UTC
14. 2.8 156 km S of False Pass, Alaska 12:24 UTC
15. 2.1 151 km S of False Pass, Alaska 02:59 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:39 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.