M4.5 earthquake 267 km W of Adak, Alaska
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 267 km W of Adak, Alaska on Tue, Sep 8, 1981, 2:53 PM GMT+12 (02:53 UTC), 86 km (53 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M4.7 Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 4.5 (mb), light
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-09-08 02:53:26 UTC
- Depth
- 85.7 km (53.3 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 51.643° N, 179.514° E
- Region
- Alaska
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 1 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.
After
Earthquakes todayAlaska earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001fr9. Read Tue, Sep 22, 2026, 7:48 PM UTC.