QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2ml

2 km NW of Pāhala, Hawaii

· 33 km deep · released about 33 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Hawaii County 42 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 4.2 (ml)
Depth
33 km below the surface
Felt
198 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Hawaii County, 42 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 159 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 198 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 33 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 5,100× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 230× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 33 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 70× 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.

Where

Epicentre 19.2222, -155.4978. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Hawaii County, HI 42 km (26 mi) S of here earthquakes near Hawaii County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 20 km SSE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  2. 1.9 14 km S of Fern Forest, Hawaii
  3. 1.7 5 km NNE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  4. 1.8 25 km E of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii
  5. 1.9 20 km SE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  6. 2.2 1 km NE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  7. 1.9 2 km SW of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii
  8. 1.7 11 km ENE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  9. 1.7 9 km ENE of Naalehu, Hawaii
  10. 1.7 20 km E of Naalehu, Hawaii
  11. 1.8 11 km SE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  12. 1.5 3 km SSW of Pāhala, Hawaii
  13. 1.9 10 km NNE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  14. 1.7 21 km SSE of Pāhala, Hawaii
  15. 1.8 6 km SSE of Pāhala, Hawaii

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 6.2 on 2021-10-10 — it released about 930 times the energy of this one.

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

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.