Earthquake near Federal Way, 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 Federal Way, 6 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: Browns Point, Des Moines, Lakeland North, Normandy Park, Fife Heights, Lakeland South.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.2 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 6.2 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 · 34 km SW of this epicentre Feb 28, 2001
2. 6.7 4 km WNW of Roy, Washington · 40 km SSW of this epicentre Apr 13, 1949
3. 6.7 1 km ENE of Dash Point, Washington · 3 km SSW of this epicentre Apr 29, 1965
4. 6.1 Puget Sound region, Washington · 28 km WNW of this epicentre Nov 13, 1939
5. 5.8 Puget Sound area, Washington · 39 km W of this epicentre Feb 15, 1946

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 47.3488, -122.3877. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 5 km WSW of Mercer Island, Washington 17:00 UTC
2. 1.7 1 km SW of Kapowsin, Washington 22:59 UTC
3. 1.6 3 km ESE of Buckley, Washington 20:02 UTC
4. 2.2 2 km WSW of Wauna, Washington 10:04 UTC
5. 1.5 5 km ENE of Belfair, Washington 05:16 UTC
6. 1.6 1 km SSE of Kapowsin, Washington 22:57 UTC
7. 1.6 2 km SSW of Lake Forest Park, Washington 20:08 UTC
8. 2.3 5 km SE of Kingston, Washington 15:55 UTC
9. 1.6 9 km S of Lake Morton-Berrydale, Washington 03:09 UTC
10. 1.9 5 km WNW of White Center, Washington 14:08 UTC
11. 1.7 1 km ESE of Tacoma, Washington 01:26 UTC
12. 1.5 2 km SSE of Kapowsin, Washington 22:33 UTC
13. 2.0 5 km WSW of Crocker, Washington 07:03 UTC
14. 1.7 1 km SE of Kapowsin, Washington 20:12 UTC
15. 1.6 3 km S of Grapeview, Washington 22:09 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:40 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.