Earthquake near Sterling, AK

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 38 km (24 mi) from the epicentre. In Sterling, 18 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Sterling 18 km, intensity II · Soldotna 35 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.9 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 89,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,800× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.9 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 4× 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 4.8 on 2022-07-12 — about 130 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 24 km ENE of Sterling, Alaska · 6 km NE of this epicentre Oct 3, 1954
2. 6.4 19 km SSE of Tyonek, Alaska · 45 km NW of this epicentre Jul 30, 1941
3. 6.0 31 km S of Funny River, Alaska · 44 km SSW of this epicentre Oct 24, 1937
4. 5.5 26 km SSW of Anchorage, Alaska · 48 km NNE of this epicentre May 24, 1995
5. 5.4 19 km NE of Nikiski, Alaska · 38 km NW of this epicentre Apr 25, 1994

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 60.6119, -150.4737. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 1.9 21 km SSE of Point Possession, Alaska 20:50 UTC
2. 1.9 7 km NNE of Ridgeway, Alaska 21:51 UTC
3. 1.7 28 km S of Funny River, Alaska 06:13 UTC
4. 1.5 7 km ESE of Soldotna, Alaska 12:15 UTC
5. 2.0 17 km S of Funny River, Alaska 16:17 UTC
6. 2.1 29 km ESE of Kasilof, Alaska 21:24 UTC
7. 2.4 27 km ESE of Kasilof, Alaska 06:44 UTC
8. 4.2 30 km ESE of Kasilof, Alaska 02:52 UTC
9. 1.9 26 km W of Hope, Alaska 12:16 UTC
10. 2.1 9 km W of Point Possession, Alaska 10:17 UTC
11. 1.8 3 km WNW of Funny River, Alaska 15:19 UTC
12. 1.5 7 km E of Soldotna, Alaska 05:44 UTC
13. 1.5 10 km SSE of Soldotna, Alaska 13:42 UTC
14. 1.6 15 km SE of Point Possession, Alaska 17:12 UTC
15. 1.8 23 km SW of Hope, Alaska 21:57 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:32 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.