Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.9mww
off the coast of Oregon
Yes. A magnitude 4.9 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Oregon at 21:22 UTC on 2021-02-20, 10 km deep. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 4.9 (mww)
- Depth
- 10 km below the surface
- Felt
- 5 reports · strongest reported intensity I
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 326 days ago
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 181 km (112 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 340 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.9 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 500× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.9 about 340 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 710× 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 since 2016 was M 6.3 on 2019-08-29 — about 130 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
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 43.6654, -128.1423. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Aftershocks so far
56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 4.0 off the coast of Oregon
- 2.8 269 km WNW of Bandon, Oregon
- 3.9 off the coast of Oregon
- 4.4 off the coast of Oregon
- 3.0 271 km W of Bandon, Oregon
- 3.0 298 km W of Bandon, Oregon
- 2.9 off the coast of Oregon
- 3.5 266 km W of Bandon, Oregon
- 3.5 269 km W of Bandon, Oregon
- 6.0 267 km W of Bandon, Oregon
- 3.6 off the coast of Oregon
- 4.3 298 km WNW of Bandon, Oregon
- 4.0 275 km WNW of Bandon, Oregon
- 3.1 off the coast of Oregon
- 3.1 289 km W of Bandon, Oregon
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
- 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.