Alaska earthquakes

M3.9 earthquake 38 km SE of Akutan, Alaska

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck 38 km SE of Akutan, Alaska on Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:49 PM AKST (03:49 UTC), 63 km (39 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M4.5 107 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska. This one was a foreshock.

Akutan forecast More in Alaska

Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 3.9 (mb, body-wave), minor
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:49 PM AKST
UTC: 2016-12-21 03:49:30 UTC
Depth: 63.0 km (39.2 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 53.929° N, 165.297° W
Region: Alaska
Felt reports: 1
Strongest shaking: III, weak shaking
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
3.9	mb, body-wave	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.154 · 11 stations
3.8	ML, local (Richter)	Alaska Earthquake Center	Preliminary

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

Felt at Unalaska.

From the USGS event page for us10007met. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: III, weak shaking
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

1 person reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was II, weak shaking.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Location uncertainty: About 9.2 km horizontally, 10.8 km in depth
Magnitude uncertainty: ±0.15
Depth from: From location
Station coverage gap: 184°, poorly surrounded by stations
Stations used: 45

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Akutan, AlaskaPopulation 1,040. Forecast39 kmSE

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 107 in the 60 days after this one and 55 in the 30 days before it.

After

The first 60 of 107.

Before

Earthquakes today Alaska earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us10007met (also filed as ak14774174, ak016gcteeym). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 11:40 PM UTC.