A shake alert went out over the U.S. Geological Survey's early warning system on Dec. 4, warning that a 5.9 earthquake near Carson City in western Nevada could produce heavy shaking in the region. But moments later, the survey announced the alert, which was sent to people as far west as San Francisco, was a false alarm.

The United States Geological Survey put out a false alarm for a 5.9 earthquake east of Dayton, Nevada, on Thursday morning.

“On December 4, 2025, the ShakeAlert EEW system released an incorrect alert for a magnitude 5.9 earthquake near Reno and Carson City, Nevada,” the statement read. “The event did not occur, and has been deleted from USGS websites and data feeds. The USGS is working to understand the cause of the false alert.”

In the latest report prepared by a Japanese government earthquake task force, it was estimated that up to 298,000 people could be killed in a Nankai Trough megaquake with a magnitude of 8-9. The casualties would include 215,000 deaths caused by tsunami waves, the report said.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake centered in the Pacific Ocean some 45 miles west of Misawa, Japan, shook the northern part of the archipelago around 11:30 p.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

A small earthquake was detected miles from two North Carolina tourist communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains on Friday, federal seismologists reported. The 2.1 magnitude earthquake registered at 4:11 p.m. about 2.5 miles southeast of Weaverville and 9 miles south of Asheville, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.