Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.6ml
Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Yes. A magnitude 3.6 earthquake was recorded in the Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska at 22:26 UTC on 2026-10-12, 14 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 14 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Measured shaking
- intensity I (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Aleutians West Census Area, 134 km NE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 hours 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 68 km (42 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 3.8 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 45,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.8 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 7.9× 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
No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 85 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 8.7 1965 Western Aleutian Islands (Hawadax/Rat Islands) Earthquake · 34 km NE of this epicentre
- 7.8 Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 22 km NE of this epicentre
- 7.1 Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 42 km NW of this epicentre
- 7.0 Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 50 km ESE of this epicentre
- 6.8 Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 30 km NE 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 51.0090, 178.4200. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aleutians West Census Area, AK | 134 km (83 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Aleutians West Census Area |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| measured intensity | 1.48 | 1.46 |
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.