QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.5mwr

2 km W of South Hutchinson, Kansas

· 5.0 km deep · released about 85 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Reno County 13 kmRice County 41 kmHarvey County 47 kmMcPherson County 50 kmKingman County 55 kmSedgwick County 59 kmStafford County 65 kmEllsworth County 78 kmPratt County 79 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 4.5 (mwr)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
3308 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Measured shaking
intensity VI (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Reno County, 13 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1662 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 3308 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 2,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 89× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.5 about 85 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 180× 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 38.0246, -97.9730. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Reno County, KS 13 km (8 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Reno County
Rice County, KS 41 km (26 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Rice County
Harvey County, KS 47 km (29 mi) W of here earthquakes near Harvey County
McPherson County, KS 50 km (31 mi) SW of here earthquakes near McPherson County
Kingman County, KS 55 km (34 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Kingman County
Sedgwick County, KS 59 km (37 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sedgwick County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 4 km SSE of Pretty Prairie, Kansas
  2. 2.2 2 km W of South Hutchinson, Kansas
  3. 2.3 3 km NE of Cheney, Kansas
  4. 2.3 2 km WNW of South Hutchinson, Kansas
  5. 2.1 5 km W of South Hutchinson, Kansas
  6. 2.2 2 km WNW of South Hutchinson, Kansas
  7. 2.4 7 km NE of Partridge, Kansas
  8. 2.2 5 km WNW of South Hutchinson, Kansas
  9. 2.0 2 km WNW of South Hutchinson, Kansas
  10. 2.0 4 km WSW of South Hutchinson, Kansas
  11. 1.8 3 km NW of South Hutchinson, KS

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 4.2 on 2019-08-16.

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

On USGS

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