QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

Earthquake near Sand Point, AK

No earthquake was likely felt in Sand Point in the 24 hours to 2:51 pm AKST (23:51 UTC). The last one was M 4.2, 99 km (61 mi) SE, at 10:44 pm AKDT on 22 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Sand Point

This page: a magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 45 km (28 mi) east-southeast of Sand Point, AK, at 2:00 am AKST on 20 November 2019 (11:00 UTC), 54 km deep.

USGS: 44 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska

2:00 am AKST, Nov 20, 2019 · · 54 km deep · released about 1.3 tons of TNT

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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
2:00 am AKST on 20 November 2019 ()
Where
45 km (28 mi) east-southeast of Sand Point, AK · earthquakes near Sand Point
Magnitude
M 3.3 (ml)
Depth
54 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2464 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. In Sand Point, 45 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× 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 4.7 on 2017-12-23 — about 130 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 34 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.4 54 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 19 km S of this epicentre
  2. 6.9 17 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 38 km W of this epicentre
  3. 6.6 72 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 31 km SSE of this epicentre
  4. 6.6 85 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 47 km SSE of this epicentre
  5. 6.3 68 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 26 km SSE 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 55.1667, -159.8643. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 47 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  2. 1.7 54 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  3. 3.6 71 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska
  4. 3.2 30 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  5. 2.2 63 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  6. 2.1 38 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  7. 1.9 64 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  8. 1.7 53 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  9. 1.6 65 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  10. 1.8 59 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  11. 1.9 50 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  12. 1.9 55 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  13. 1.6 16 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska
  14. 1.7 72 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  15. 2.9 51 km E of Sand Point, 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.