Central 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 30 km (19 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 43 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 43 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 89× 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 since 2016 was M 5.3 on 2016-05-15 — about 32 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 18 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.2 Mount McKinley (Denali) area, Alaska · 35 km NNE of this epicentre Jul 7, 1912
2. 6.4 Mount McKinley (Denali) area, Alaska · 44 km NNE of this epicentre Jul 8, 1912
3. 5.7 66 km ESE of Denali National Park, Alaska · 18 km NNE of this epicentre Dec 30, 1995
4. 5.5 53 km ESE of Denali National Park, Alaska · 37 km N of this epicentre Apr 1, 1962
5. 5.5 59 km SE of Denali National Park, Alaska · 11 km WNW of this epicentre Oct 21, 1972

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 63.0699, -150.7817. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 43 km N of Petersville, Alaska 16:10 UTC
2. 1.9 25 km NNW of Petersville, Alaska 11:07 UTC
3. 1.8 60 km SE of Denali National Park, Alaska 23:36 UTC
4. 1.6 73 km ESE of Denali National Park, Alaska 10:04 UTC
5. 2.0 71 km SE of Denali National Park, Alaska 13:28 UTC
6. 1.5 61 km SE of Denali National Park, Alaska 11:40 UTC
7. 1.6 61 km SE of Denali National Park, Alaska 02:05 UTC
8. 1.5 67 km ESE of Denali National Park, Alaska 16:10 UTC
9. 1.6 33 km SE of Denali National Park, Alaska 12:51 UTC
10. 1.8 54 km NNW of Petersville, Alaska 23:49 UTC
11. 1.8 51 km NNW of Petersville, Alaska 14:44 UTC
12. 1.6 36 km E of Denali National Park, Alaska 06:40 UTC
13. 1.9 50 km N of Petersville, Alaska 17:57 UTC
14. 1.7 26 km N of Petersville, Alaska 22:32 UTC
15. 2.0 36 km NNE of Petersville, Alaska 10:36 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 23:07 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.