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Moderate mag. 5.4 earthquake - 13 mi west of Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA, on Sunday, Mar 19, 2023 at 7:06 am (GMT -8) -

Moderate mag. 5.4 earthquake - 13 mi west of Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA, on Sunday, Mar 19, 2023 at 7:06 am (GMT -8) Moderate mag. 5.4 earthquake - 13 mi west of Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA, on Sunday, Mar 19, 2023 at 7:06 am (GMT -8)

Moderate magnitude 5.4 earthquake at 65 km depth

19 Mar 15:10 UTC: First to report: VolcanoDiscovery after 4 minutes.
19 Mar 15:15: Now using data updates from GFZ
... [show all] ...
20 Mar 15:44: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 63.8 to 65.4 km (from 40 to 41 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 0.7 km (0.4 mi) towards ENE.
Update Sun, 19 Mar 2023, 15:39

Significant magnitude 5.4 quake hits 13 miles west of Homer, Alaska, United States in the morning

5.4 quake 19 Mar 7:06 am (GMT -8)
5.4 quake 19 Mar 7:06 am (GMT -8)
An earthquake of magnitude 5.4 occurred in the morning on Sunday, March 19th, 2023, at 7:06 am local time near Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA, as reported by the United States Geological Survey.
According to preliminary data, the quake was located at a moderately shallow depth of 41 miles. Magnitude and other quake parameters can still change in the coming hours as the agency continues to process seismic data.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.4 as well. Other agencies reporting the same quake include France's Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique (RéNaSS) at magnitude 5.5, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 5.4, The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) at magnitude 5.4, and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 5.4.
Generally quakes of this magnitude are recorded by more than one agency and the results can vary, with subsequent reports that come in after the first one often showing more accuracy.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Anchor Point (pop. 1,900) located 12 miles from the epicenter, Homer (pop. 5,500) 13 miles away, Diamond Ridge (pop. 1,200) 13 miles away, Fritz Creek (pop. 1,900) 23 miles away, Cohoe (pop. 1,400) 56 miles away, Kalifornsky (pop. 7,900) 60 miles away, and Kenai (pop. 7,700) 69 miles away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

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Earthquake details

Date & timeMar 19, 2023 15:06:27 UTC -
Local time at epicenterSunday, Mar 19, 2023 at 7:06 am (GMT -8)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude5.4
Depth65.4 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude59.6095°N / 151.907°W (Gulf of Alaska, Alaska, United States)
Antipode59.61°S / 28.093°E
Shaking intensityLight shaking
Felt55 reports
Primary data sourceUSGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcanoIliamna (81 km / 50 mi)
Nearby towns and cities19 km (12 mi) SSW of Anchor Point (pop: 1,930) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
20 km (13 mi) W of Homer (pop: 5,520) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
37 km (23 mi) WSW of Fritz Creek (pop: 1,930) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
96 km (60 mi) SSW of Kalifornsky (pop: 7,850) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
111 km (69 mi) SSW of Kenai (pop: 7,660) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
210 km (131 mi) SSW of Alaska City (pop: 298,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
230 km (143 mi) SW of Eagle River (pop: 24,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
230 km (143 mi) SW of Eagle River (Anchorage) (pop: 24,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quakeLight Snow 1°C (34 F), humidity: 69%, wind: 2 m/s (3 kts)
Estimated seismic energy released7.9 x 1012 joules (2.21 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 1898 tons of TNT or 0.1 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy
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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag.DepthLocationSource
5.465 km19 Km SSW of Anchor Point, AlaskaUSGS
5.370 kmSouthern AlaskaGFZ
5.410 kmKenai Peninsula, AlaskaIRIS
5.465 kmKenai Peninsula, AlaskaRaspberryShake
5.510 kmNear AnchorageRENASS
5.469 kmSOUTHERN ALASKAEMSC
5.462 kmSouthern AlaskaGeoAu

User reports for this quake (56)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
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Soldotna (106.1 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s : Heard the house move before I felt it. Sofa shook and television started to tilt. Pets woke up immediately. | 13 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
Soldotna (105.1 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : I was playing games and my buddy told me theres an earthquake happening right now. I was like no quit joking around and seconds later it hit and the whole house was shaking. | 11 users found this interesting.  
Alaska City, Anchorage (208.1 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : My closet mirror sliding doors started rattling along with anything touching a wall. My bed was shaking for about 5-10 seconds. Nothing fell over though | 10 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
Diamond Ridge, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (23 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : Strong shaking. The whole house was shaking and my bed along with it. I counted the seconds. The shaking started to slow down to about 10 seconds. I've been in bigger shakes but in this house in Homer, which is up on pylons, shook stronger and more longer than it has before. | 7 users found this interesting.  
Soldotna, AK (111.3 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Shaking while still in bed | 8 users found this interesting.  
Homer, AK (24.1 km E of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : In the e kitchen. Things fell of shelves. | 7 users found this interesting.  
Kenai, Alaska (115.1 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Laying in bed | 7 users found this interesting.  
Anchorage (207 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : In bed in Anchorage hotel room. It felt like someone was shaking the bed at first. I thought it might be vibration from the elevator through the wall. But it was too rhythmic and lasted for several seconds. Like waves of water gently rocking me. I could feel the give and pull of the building and that’s when I realized it had to be an earthquake. | 5 users found this interesting.  
Diamond Ridge, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (19.7 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 15-20 s : Woke everyone. All the dogs. Nothing fell no cracks. | 6 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
Kasilof (85.8 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : In bed thinking about getting up and the bed shook slightly. | 6 users found this interesting.  
Anchor point, ak / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 20-30 s : We felt a large jolt. Usually don't feel anything under a 6 or above but this one jolted me and family awake and then continued with Light shaking after the initial jolt, for a several seconds. | 5 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
Nikiski / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 20-30 s : Started off as light shaking then turned a little more intense. I was awake my husband was sleeping and it woke him. | 5 users found this interesting.  
Homer, AK (39.4 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 30-60 s : My apt. started creaking, blinds hitting against the patio doors, coffee in my cup moving back & forth. Nothing fell off the walls. Could have been much worse. | 4 users found this interesting.  
Kasilof, Alaska (87.5 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 30-60 s : Sitting on couch, rumbling start, got more intense, room started moving and shaking, heavy rocking chair started to kind, room started moving. Got slight vertigo from movement. Dogs started barking. | 4 users found this interesting.  
Eagle River, AK (227.6 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Mild vibration/shaking | 5 users found this interesting.  
6 miles up Oilwell Road in Ninilchik (49 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 30-60 s : My bed rocked badly - in retrospect it felt like I was on rough seas! | 4 users found this interesting.  
Diamond Ridge, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (16.9 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s : Woke us up from deep sleep | 4 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
soldotna (105.8 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 10-15 s : sitting using my pc | 3 users found this interesting.  
135 s Leibrock Street Soldotna / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 20-30 s : Started with vibration and then shaking and rattling Acted like was going to stop and then started again | 2 users found this interesting.  
379 s (108.7 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 minutes : Woke me up from dead sleep ???? Scared me for a second but got me good for a minute for sure | 2 users found this interesting.  
Chugiak (236.5 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : Single small bump | 2 users found this interesting.  
Moose Pass, AK (155.6 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Woke us up with the shaking | 2 users found this interesting.  
Kenai, Alaska (107.2 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s : Light to moderate shake | 2 users found this interesting.  
Soldotna, AK (117.2 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Lying in bed, whole house shook for about 10 seconds (growing in intensity). | 2 users found this interesting.  
Nikolaevsk, AK (27.3 km NE of epicenter) [Map] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Mild to moderate shaking for a few seconds then a very strong shake followed by a few more seconds of moderate to mild shaking. We tend to sleep through these events. This one shook us all awake.  
Anchorage / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : 2 light waves | 2 users found this interesting.  
Home seward ak / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Bed shook, walls and floors. On the second floor | 2 users found this interesting.  
Anchor Point, AK / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s : My family was asleep and our beds lifted and shook. It woke us up from a deep sleep. | 2 users found this interesting.  
Tudor and Boniface / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Rattling and light, but rapid, shaking. | 2 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
Soldotna ak / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Bed shook and made noise for three seconds. Continued light movement for another four seconds. | 2 users found this interesting.  
Homer / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 15-20 s : I was asleep, it shook the building ,, The Butler | 2 users found this interesting.  
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Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (4 quakes)

Date and timeMag
Depth
LocationDetails
Mar 30, 2023 12:13
1 day 7 hours ago
2.1

45 km
14 mi SW of Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USAMore
Mar 27, 2023 13:26
4 days ago
2.3

48 km
7.6 mi W of Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USAMore
Mar 19, 2023 17:29
12 days ago
2.0

57 km
13 mi W of Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USAMore
Mar 19, 2023 15:25
12 days ago
2.1

61 km
15 mi W of Homer, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USAMore

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