M1.7 earthquake 7 km S of Oso, Washington
A magnitude 1.7 earthquake struck 7 km S of Oso, Washington on Tue, Sep 22, 1981, 1:26 PM PDT (20:26 UTC), -1 km (-1 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M1.9 1 km S of Hobart, Washington. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 1.7 (md), micro
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-09-22 20:26:39 UTC
- Depth
- -0.9 km (-0.6 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 48.203° N, 121.931° W
- Region
- Washington
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 0.1 km horizontally, 0.2 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.14
- Depth from
- Operator assigned
- Station coverage gap
- 162°
- Stations used
- 6
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 9 in the 60 days after this one and 4 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 1.73 km ENE of Union Hill-Novelty Hill, Washington · 16433 days ago · -1 km deep · 57 km away
- 1.91 km S of Hobart, Washington · 16431 days ago · 1 km deep · 89 km away
- 1.82 km S of Mercer Island, Washington · 16429 days ago · 0 km deep · 76 km away
- 1.93 km ENE of Union Hill-Novelty Hill, Washington · 16426 days ago · 6 km deep · 57 km away
- 1.82 km ENE of Indianola, Washington · 16424 days ago · 22 km deep · 65 km away
- 1.64 km SSE of Hobart, Washington · 16408 days ago · 9 km deep · 91 km away
- 1.92 km WSW of Wilderness Rim, Washington · 16397 days ago · 18 km deep · 86 km away
- 1.51 km E of White Center, Washington · 16385 days ago · 22 km deep · 82 km away
- 3.75 km SW of Clinton, Washington · 16384 days ago · 26 km deep · 46 km away
Before
- 1.919 km NNE of Index, Washington · 16439 days ago · 2 km deep · 40 km away
- 1.87 km NNW of Deming, Washington · 16439 days ago · 12 km deep · 80 km away
- 2.44 km WSW of Chico, Washington · 16448 days ago · 13 km deep · 92 km away
- 1.914 km NE of Snoqualmie, Washington · 16460 days ago · 4 km deep · 69 km away
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Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event uw10119018. Read Tue, Sep 22, 2026, 5:29 AM UTC.