152 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 97 km (60 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 15 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 11,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 500× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 350× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 4.0 about 15 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 32× 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

The largest earthquake within 50 km (31 mi) since our catalogue begins in 2016. No other earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded this close in that time.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 109 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 48 km WSW of this epicentre Jul 7, 1920
2. 5.7 152 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 7 km S of this epicentre Jun 26, 2001
3. 5.4 140 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska · 14 km NW of this epicentre Jun 10, 1972
4. 5.4 136 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska · 16 km N of this epicentre Mar 30, 1983
5. 5.3 136 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 17 km WNW of this epicentre Apr 29, 2004

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 61.4049, -140.0544. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 132 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska 04:57 UTC
2. 1.6 125 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 07:42 UTC
3. 1.8 128 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 06:26 UTC
4. 1.5 130 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 08:14 UTC
5. 3.4 140 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 18:55 UTC
6. 1.5 143 km WNW of Haines Junction, Canada 02:00 UTC
7. 2.6 130 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 22:19 UTC
8. 2.0 Southern Yukon Territory, Canada 16:59 UTC
9. 1.5 118 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska 12:46 UTC
10. 1.5 137 km WNW of Haines Junction, Canada 03:31 UTC
11. 1.6 132 km WNW of Haines Junction, Canada 15:56 UTC
12. 1.7 141 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 06:57 UTC
13. 1.6 129 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska 15:53 UTC
14. 1.5 147 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 16:58 UTC
15. 1.9 146 km E of McCarthy, Alaska 19:49 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:50 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.