M6.2 earthquake 35 km S of Sand Point, Alaska

Tuesday, May 25, 1993, 23:16:43 UTC · 55.021°N, 160.513°W

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck 35 km S of Sand Point, Alaska on Tuesday, May 25, 1993, 23:16:43 UTC, at a depth of 36.8 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.9 on May 13, 1993.

Magnitude: 6.2; Strong · mwb
Depth: 37 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: V; Moderate (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search areaColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

30 kilotons of TNT

That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 63 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

143 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: shallow

37 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 lists 6 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.5 on June 5, 1993. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 201 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 8 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 168 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1946M8.6
Unimak Island
1 Apr 1946 · 227 km away · intensity VI
168 deaths$26 million damagetsunami
1938M8.2
Alaska
10 Nov 1938 · 145 km away · intensity VI
tsunami
1788M8.0
Alaska Peninsula
6 Aug 1788 · 31 km away
tsunami
1948M7.5
Alaska Peninsula
14 May 1948 · 66 km away
1957M7.5
Aleutian Islands: Fox Islands
22 Mar 1957 · 299 km away · intensity V
1989M6.9
Alaska
4 Sep 1989 · 240 km away
tsunami

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

Nearby trackers