Reviewed by USGSAlaska122y ago
M6.9 earthquake 182 km SSE of Atka, Alaska
Saturday, January 27, 1906, 09:40:55 UTC · 50.814°N, 172.794°W
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 182 km SSE of Atka, Alaska on Saturday, January 27, 1906, 09:40:55 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.6 on February 14, 1905.
- Magnitude
- 6.9
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
374 kilotons of TNT
That is about 25 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 785 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
23 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North American and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
15 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 100 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 4 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 1 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1901M7.8
Aleutian Islands: Fox Islands
31 Dec 1901 · 143 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.