QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8ml

146 km SE of Akutan, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 146 km SE of Akutan, Alaska, at 10:42 pm AKST on 19 January 2020 (07:42 UTC), 35 km deep.

· 35 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 2.8 (ml)
Depth
35 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2410 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 5.1 on 2017-05-24 — about 2,800 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.2 156 km SE of Akutan, Alaska · 35 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.4 112 km SE of Akutan, Alaska · 43 km N of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 149 km SE of Akutan, Alaska · 12 km ENE of this epicentre
  4. 5.2 121 km SE of Akutan, Alaska · 35 km N of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 162 km SSE of Akutan, Alaska · 28 km SSW 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 53.0566, -164.5047. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 141 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  2. 2.2 154 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  3. 2.2 113 km SSE of Akutan, Alaska
  4. 2.8 140 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  5. 2.3 133 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  6. 2.2 132 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  7. 3.0 158 km SSE of Akutan, Alaska
  8. 2.8 138 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  9. 2.4 136 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  10. 2.3 142 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  11. 2.2 135 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  12. 2.0 109 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  13. 2.2 136 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  14. 2.7 137 km SE of Akutan, Alaska
  15. 2.6 115 km SSE of Akutan, Alaska

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.

On USGS

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