5 km NNW of False Pass, Alaska

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 83 km (52 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 7.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.6 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16× 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 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 5.9 27 km W of False Pass, Alaska · 26 km W of this epicentre Oct 1, 1951
2. 5.9 14 km NNE of False Pass, Alaska · 11 km NE of this epicentre Sep 4, 1971
3. 5.0 29 km W of False Pass, Alaska · 28 km W of this epicentre Apr 13, 1985

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 54.8987, -163.4358. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 19 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska 23:05 UTC
2. 2.9 34 km W of Cold Bay, Alaska 05:04 UTC
3. 2.3 37 km S of False Pass, Alaska 08:17 UTC
4. 2.2 22 km SW of False Pass, Alaska 10:14 UTC
5. 1.5 31 km S of False Pass, Alaska 23:13 UTC
6. 2.3 39 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska 22:29 UTC
7. 3.8 36 km N of False Pass, Alaska 05:50 UTC
8. 3.1 32 km S of False Pass, Alaska 11:02 UTC
9. 1.5 27 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska 21:32 UTC
10. 2.6 12 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska 09:37 UTC
11. 2.1 15 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska 02:43 UTC
12. 2.3 38 km S of False Pass, Alaska 22:50 UTC
13. 2.1 36 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 00:24 UTC
14. 2.9 20 km SW of Cold Bay, Alaska 09:08 UTC
15. 2.2 9 km E of False Pass, Alaska 03:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:57 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.