Earthquake near Belfair, WA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Belfair, 5 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Allyn, Navy Yard City, Bethel, Erlands Point-Kitsap Lake, Port Orchard, East Port Orchard.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 16 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 970,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 680,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 61× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 lb of TNT

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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 The 2001 Nisqually, Washington Earthquake · 39 km S of this epicentre Feb 28, 2001
2. 6.7 1 km ENE of Dash Point, Washington · 36 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 29, 1965
3. 6.1 Puget Sound region, Washington · 11 km SSE of this epicentre Nov 13, 1939
4. 5.8 Puget Sound area, Washington · 25 km SSW of this epicentre Feb 15, 1946
5. 5.3 Eastern Olympic Peninsula, Washington · 37 km NNW of this epicentre Mar 17, 1904

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 47.4955, -122.8118. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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.

1. 2.0 0 km NNE of Enetai, Washington 18:53 UTC
2. 1.6 0 km SW of Enetai, Washington 10:19 UTC
3. 1.8 0 km WNW of Enetai, Washington 23:35 UTC
4. 1.6 5 km S of Port Ludlow, Washington 23:27 UTC
5. 1.8 1 km SE of Enetai, Washington 21:10 UTC
6. 2.8 1 km ESE of Enetai, Washington 20:43 UTC
7. 1.6 0 km SE of Enetai, Washington 12:32 UTC
8. 2.0 1 km SE of Enetai, Washington 05:52 UTC
9. 1.5 1 km W of Seattle, Washington 02:26 UTC
10. 1.7 2 km ESE of Enetai, Washington 01:12 UTC
11. 1.6 0 km NNE of Enetai, Washington 01:21 UTC
12. 2.5 1 km NE of Enetai, Washington 18:15 UTC
13. 2.2 Puget Sound region, Washington 18:11 UTC
14. 1.7 0 km S of Enetai, Washington 01:14 UTC
15. 2.1 0 km NNW of Des Moines, Washington 08:13 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:02 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.