Earthquake near Valdez, AK

USGS: 43 km NW of Tatitlek, Alaska

9:02 pm AKDT, Sep 30, 2026 · 2026-10-01 05:02 UTC · 1.3 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Valdez Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area

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: 9:02 pm AKDT on 30 September 2026 (2026-10-01 05:02 UTC)
Where: 46 km (29 mi) W of Valdez, AK · earthquakes near Valdez
Magnitude: M 1.7 (ml)
Depth: 1.3 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Chugach Census Area, 93 km SE
Status: Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS 2 days ago · we first saw it 2 days ago

A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 46 km (29 mi) W of Valdez, AK, at 9:02 pm AKDT on 30 September 2026 (05:02 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 4.4 on 2022-07-09 — about 11,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 20 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

9.2 The 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska Earthquake · 29 km SSW of this epicentre Mar 28, 1964
6.6 57 km ENE of Whittier, Alaska · 34 km WSW of this epicentre Feb 23, 1925
6.6 37 km WNW of Tatitlek, Alaska · 15 km SSW of this epicentre Jul 12, 1983
6.4 37 km SSE of Glacier View, Alaska · 38 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 20, 1964
6.4 46 km WNW of Tatitlek, Alaska · 26 km SW of this epicentre Sep 7, 1983

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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 61.1630, -147.2020. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
Chugach Census Area, AK	93 km (57 mi)	SE	earthquakes near Chugach Census Area
Anchorage Municipality, AK	112 km (69 mi)	W	earthquakes near Anchorage Municipality

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

Aftershocks so far

1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1.6 49 km SSE of Eureka Roadhouse, Alaska 14:47 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 01:03 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

Revisions

USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.

What changed	From	To	When
location	44 km NW of Tatitlek, Alaska	43 km NW of Tatitlek, Alaska	05:04 UTC
longitude	-147.23	-147.2	05:04 UTC
latitude	61.16	61.16	05:04 UTC
depth	7.1	1.3	05:04 UTC
magnitude	1.8	1.7	05:04 UTC

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.