QuakeScout
Magnitude2.8

Reviewed by USGSAlaska6mo ago

M2.8 earthquake 61 km SW of False Pass, Alaska

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 09:38:24 UTC · 54.530°N, 164.179°W

A magnitude 2.8 earthquake struck 61 km SW of False Pass, Alaska on Thursday, March 19, 2026, 09:38:24 UTC, at a depth of 99.7 km (intermediate).

Magnitude
2.8
Minor · ml
Depth
100 km
Intermediate
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

239 kg of TNT

That is about 1/63,000 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 1,995 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

163 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North American and Pacific plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: intermediate

100 km

Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.

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 50 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 471 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 8.6The 1946 Unimak Island, Alaska EarthquakeApril 1, 1946 · 145 km SE of this epicenter
  2. 7.881 km E of Nikolski, AlaskaJuly 2, 1965 · 284 km SW of this epicenter
  3. 7.62020 Sand Point, Alaska EarthquakeOctober 19, 2020 · 294 km E of this epicenter
  4. 7.454 km SE of Sand Point, AlaskaMay 31, 1917 · 280 km E of this epicenter
  5. 7.32025 Sand Point, Alaska EarthquakeJuly 16, 2025 · 239 km E of this epicenter
  6. 7.22023 Sand Point, Alaska EarthquakeJuly 16, 2023 · 221 km E of this epicenter
  7. 7.190 km SE of King Cove, AlaskaMay 14, 1948 · 195 km E of this epicenter
  8. 7.139 km S of Akutan, AlaskaMarch 22, 1957 · 133 km SW of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 11 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 169 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1946M8.6

    Unimak Island

    1 Apr 1946 · 145 km away · intensity VI

    168 deaths$26 million damagetsunami

  2. 2023M7.2

    Alaska Peninsula

    16 Jul 2023 · 221 km away · intensity VI

    1 deathtsunami

  3. 1965M6.5

    Aleutian Islands: Fox Islands

    2 Jul 1965 · 277 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  4. 1788M8.0

    Alaska Peninsula

    6 Aug 1788 · 211 km away

    tsunami

  5. 2020M7.6

    Alaska

    19 Oct 2020 · 294 km away · intensity IX

    tsunami

  6. 1948M7.5

    Alaska Peninsula

    14 May 1948 · 205 km away

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

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