QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

158 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 158 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska at 18:19 UTC on 2026-04-08, 15 km deep.

· 15 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Yakutat City and Borough 111 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Yakutat City and Borough, 111 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 219 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 250,000 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 · 38 km N of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 145 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska · 21 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 · 43 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 61.0010, -140.1200. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Yakutat City and Borough, AK 111 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

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

  1. 2.0 119 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  2. 1.7 156 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  3. 1.5 118 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  4. 1.6 117 km NNW of Yakutat, Alaska
  5. 1.9 158 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  6. 1.7 115 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  7. 1.8 115 km NNW of Yakutat, Alaska
  8. 2.2 157 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  9. 1.5 116 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  10. 2.4 130 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  11. 1.5 117 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  12. 1.6 116 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  13. 1.5 135 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  14. 1.6 117 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  15. 1.5 134 km ESE of McCarthy, 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.