QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.7ml

12 km NE of Pāhala, Hawaii

55 km (34 mi) SW of Hilo, HI

· 29 km deep · released about 340 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Hawaii County 36 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.7 (ml)
Depth
29 km below the surface
Felt
1 report
Nearest
Hawaii County, 36 km NNW
Nearest mapped fault
Kilauea Volcano, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 52 minutes ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 340 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 45,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 32,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.8× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 340 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 6.9 on 2018-05-04 — about 2,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 45 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.7 17 km SSW of Leilani Estates, Hawaii · 41 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.7 Island of Hawai`i, Hawaii · 40 km E of this epicentre
  3. 6.7 22 km W of Volcano, Hawaii · 16 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 6.4 Kaoiki area, Hawaii · 16 km N of this epicentre
  5. 6.2 Kilauea South Flank, Hawaii · 40 km E 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 19.2878, -155.3933. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Hawaii County, HI 36 km (23 mi) NNW earthquakes near Hawaii County

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 changedFromToWhen
reported intensitynot reported0
felt reportsnot reported1

On USGS

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