10 km SSE of Kapaau, Hawaii

2025-09-17 21:10 UTC · 23 km deep · released about 420 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: 2025-09-17 21:10 UTC
Magnitude: M 2.8 (ml)
Depth: 23 km below the surface
Felt: 2 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest: Hawaii County, 67 km SSE
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 295 days ago · we first saw it 295 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 420 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 36,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 26,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.3× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.8 about 420 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 20.1408, -155.7773. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Hawaii County, HI	67 km (42 mi)	NNW of here	earthquakes near Hawaii County
Maui County, HI	117 km (73 mi)	SE of here	earthquakes near Maui County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1.9 22 km NNE of Hala‘ula, Hawaii 18:30 UTC
1.9 8 km WNW of Waimea, Hawaii 14:16 UTC
1.9 14 km SSW of Honoka‘a, Hawaii 00:53 UTC
2.4 17 km NW of Kalaoa, Hawaii 22:04 UTC
1.8 25 km SSE of Waimea, Hawaii 12:06 UTC
1.9 10 km SSW of Honoka‘a, Hawaii 05:41 UTC
2.3 6 km NNE of Puako, Hawaii 02:49 UTC
2.1 8 km SSW of Pa‘auilo, Hawaii 13:17 UTC
2.2 10 km NE of Kalaoa, Hawaii 14:21 UTC
2.6 1 km SSE of Honoka‘a, Hawaii 16:59 UTC
2.0 17 km S of Waikoloa, Hawaii 02:43 UTC
1.9 8 km S of Kapaau, Hawaii 06:38 UTC
1.8 10 km ENE of Hala‘ula, Hawaii 20:16 UTC
1.9 29 km SSE of Hana, Hawaii 17:26 UTC
3.4 25 km ENE of Hala‘ula, Hawaii 14:24 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 23:52 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.3 on 2019-04-14 — it released about 7,400 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

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.