Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 5.8mww
89 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
Yes. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake was recorded 89 km N of Yakutat, Alaska at 00:56 UTC on 2025-12-08, 10 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 5.8 (mww)
- Depth
- 10 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Measured shaking
- intensity VII (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Tsunami
- USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
- Nearest
- Yakutat City and Borough, 57 km SW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Fairweather fault system, 13 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 253 days ago
This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 310 km (193 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 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Ridgecrest, California 2019 M 7.1 89× the energy of this one
- Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 45× the energy of this one
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 5.8 about 7.6 kilotons of TNT
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 this one released 1.4× more
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16,000× 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 7.0 on 2025-12-06 — about 63 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 6.0 90 km NNW of Yakutat, Alaska · 40 km W of this epicentre
- 5.4 65 km NNE of Yakutat, Alaska · 31 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.0 66 km NNE of Yakutat, Alaska · 30 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.0 92 km NNW of Yakutat, Alaska · 38 km W 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 60.3454, -139.6253. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yakutat City and Borough, AK | 57 km (35 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Yakutat City and Borough |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
60 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.8 97 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.7 120 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.1 112 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.2 120 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.2 101 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.1 109 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.0 111 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.4 121 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.0 114 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.5 102 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 3.2 98 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.9 94 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.2 111 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.3 114 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
- 2.2 131 km N of Yakutat, 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
- 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.