Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 7.8mww
2020 Perryville, Alaska Earthquake
Yes. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake was recorded 2020 Perryville, Alaska Earthquake at 06:12 UTC on 2020-07-22, 28 km deep. 195 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 7.8 (mww)
- Depth
- 28 km below the surface
- Felt
- 195 reports · strongest reported intensity IX
- Measured shaking
- intensity VII (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Tsunami
- USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 325 days ago
This was a major earthquake. Serious damage is likely near the epicentre. Follow official information from USGS and local authorities.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 855 km (531 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 megatons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 8.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Great Alaska earthquake 1964 M 9.2 130× the energy of this one
- Tōhoku, Japan 2011 M 9.1 89× the energy of this one
- San Francisco 1906 M 7.9 1.4× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 7.8 about 7.6 megatons of TNT
- Ridgecrest, California 2019 M 7.1 this one released 11× more
- Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 this one released 22× 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 in our catalogue was M 5.7 on 2016-05-31.
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 55.0715, -158.5960. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Aftershocks so far
60 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 4.0 94 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.1 100 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.9 131 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.3 112 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.0 74 km S of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.5 138 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.2 119 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 3.2 89 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 4.1 84 km S of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.5 127 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.2 123 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 3.9 140 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 4.5 120 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.6 96 km S of Perryville, Alaska
- 3.8 126 km SSE of Perryville, 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.