M1.9 earthquake Washington-Oregon border region
A magnitude 1.9 earthquake struck in the Washington-Oregon border region on Wed, Aug 19, 1981, 9:19 PM PDT (04:19 UTC), 36 km (22 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M2.8 21 km ENE of Amanda Park, Washington. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 1.9 (md), micro
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-08-20 04:19:12 UTC
- Depth
- 36.0 km (22.4 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 46.923° N, 123.737° 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 1.0 km horizontally, 0.6 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.11
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 193°, poorly surrounded by stations
- Stations used
- 26
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 3 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 2.821 km ENE of Amanda Park, Washington · 16468 days ago · 40 km deep · 71 km away
- 2.12 km WNW of Home, Washington · 16463 days ago · 22 km deep · 82 km away
- 3.33 km WNW of South Bend, Washington · 16452 days ago · 37 km deep · 28 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayWashington earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event uw10130413. Read Tue, Sep 22, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC.