QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9ml

43 km SSW of Chiniak, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 43 km SSW of Chiniak, Alaska, at 4:38 pm AKDT on 19 March 2025 (00:38 UTC), 24 km deep.

· 24 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kodiak Island Borough 101 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 2.9 (ml)
Depth
24 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kodiak Island Borough, 101 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 533 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 21 km (13 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 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 4.5 on 2017-05-12 — about 250 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.2 53 km ESE of Old Harbor, Alaska · 21 km S of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 25 km E of Old Harbor, Alaska · 27 km WSW of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 45 km SSE of Chiniak, Alaska · 35 km E of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 13 km S of Chiniak, Alaska · 31 km NNE of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 36 km SSW of Chiniak, Alaska · 7 km NNE 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 57.2353, -152.4671. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Kodiak Island Borough, AK 101 km (63 mi) WNW earthquakes near Kodiak Island Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 13 km S of Chiniak, Alaska
  2. 2.4 11 km ESE of Womens Bay, Alaska
  3. 2.3 30 km SSW of Chiniak, Alaska
  4. 2.4 25 km S of Womens Bay, Alaska
  5. 1.8 14 km SSE of Womens Bay, Alaska
  6. 2.1 17 km SSE of Chiniak, Alaska
  7. 2.4 35 km ESE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  8. 1.8 37 km E of Old Harbor, Alaska
  9. 2.7 22 km S of Chiniak, Alaska
  10. 2.4 17 km SW of Chiniak, Alaska
  11. 4.2 24 km SSW of Chiniak, Alaska
  12. 2.1 9 km SW of Womens Bay, Alaska
  13. 2.0 35 km SE of Old Harbor, Alaska
  14. 2.8 22 km SSE of Chiniak, Alaska
  15. 2.5 46 km ESE of Old Harbor, 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.