34 km W of Hawaiian Ocean View, Hawaii

2020-01-17 04:59 UTC · 10 km deep · released about 25 lb of TNT

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: 2020-01-17 04:59 UTC
Magnitude: M 1.9 (md)
Depth: 10 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Hawaii County, 87 km NE
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 2412 days ago · we first saw it 2412 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 25 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 600,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 420,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 38× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 1.9 about 25 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.

Where

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 19.0495, -156.0927. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Hawaii County, HI	87 km (54 mi)	SW of here	earthquakes near Hawaii County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1.6 10 km SSE of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii 17:16 UTC
1.8 19 km SSE of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii 16:53 UTC
2.4 16 km SSE of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii 07:24 UTC
1.9 44 km W of Hawaiian Ocean View, Hawaii 04:02 UTC
2.4 17 km SSE of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii 12:52 UTC
2.1 21 km SSW of Captain Cook, Hawaii 00:37 UTC
3.7 14 km NNW of Wai‘?hinu, Hawaii 11:01 UTC
1.5 5 km NNW of Wai‘?hinu, Hawaii 18:44 UTC
2.8 14 km S of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii 20:22 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 01:44 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.