QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

160 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 160 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska at 18:07 UTC on 2025-12-27, 15 km deep.

· 15 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Yakutat City and Borough 112 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 2.1 (ml)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Yakutat City and Borough, 112 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 255 days ago

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 8 km (5 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 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 5.2 on 2025-12-07 — about 45,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.7 152 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 37 km N of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 145 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska · 22 km NNW of this epicentre
  3. 5.1 144 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska · 21 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.0 151 km WNW of Haines Junction, Canada · 42 km N 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 61.0080, -140.0730. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Yakutat City and Borough, AK 112 km (69 mi) S earthquakes near Yakutat City and Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 116 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  2. 2.2 114 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  3. 2.2 118 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  4. 2.0 115 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  5. 2.0 116 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  6. 2.1 122 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  7. 2.9 114 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  8. 2.3 114 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  9. 2.2 115 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  10. 2.1 118 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  11. 2.2 120 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  12. 2.4 115 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  13. 2.2 116 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  14. 2.1 119 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  15. 2.3 114 km N of Yakutat, 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.