Earthquake near Sand Point, AK

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 124 km (77 mi) from the epicentre. In Sand Point, 43 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Sand Point 43 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 60 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 2,800× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 130× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 89× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 4.4 about 60 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 130× 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 5.9 on 2020-10-06 — about 180 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 33 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.4 54 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 25 km E of this epicentre May 31, 1917
2. 6.9 17 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 25 km NNW of this epicentre May 13, 1993
3. 6.6 72 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 43 km E of this epicentre Oct 16, 1932
4. 6.6 85 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 48 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 9, 1985
5. 6.3 68 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 40 km E of this epicentre Oct 30, 1932

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 54.9768, -160.2688. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 87 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 04:10 UTC
2. 2.0 90 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 16:12 UTC
3. 2.4 89 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 09:34 UTC
4. 2.1 51 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 08:29 UTC
5. 3.1 48 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 02:54 UTC
6. 2.3 87 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 02:02 UTC
7. 2.9 49 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 00:35 UTC
8. 2.9 south of Alaska 19:47 UTC
9. 2.7 90 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 16:58 UTC
10. 2.1 65 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska 20:42 UTC
11. 2.2 89 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 19:49 UTC
12. 2.1 south of Alaska 18:11 UTC
13. 2.0 88 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 17:22 UTC
14. 2.3 62 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 13:38 UTC
15. 2.0 84 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 11:56 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 09:51 UTC. 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.