A Series of Earthquakes Hit Alaska

A series of earthquakes have attacked the state of Alaska during the last two hours. It started with a 2.5 quake 43km S of Tanaga Volcano, Alaska. This quake was followed by a much more signification seismic movement, detected as a 5.0 earthquake 57km west, south-west of Attu Station, Alaska.

The last quake to hit in this series came 12 minutes later and registered as a magnitude 3.1 quake east, north-east of Cape Yakataga, Alaska.

At the time this report was being fashioned, a 3.0 quake hit Puerto Rico.

No news of damage or life lost has yet been reported for any of these earthquakes.

The U.S. Geological survey has detected 24 earthquakes today, 221 earthquakes in the past 7 days, 888 earthquakes in the past month, and 17,504 earthquakes in the past year.

Since Alaska is the focus of this report the following information may be useful.

According to Alaska’s official seismic website, scientists have recognized that Alaska has more earthquakes than any other region of the United States and is, in fact, one of the most seismically active areas on the globe. In fact, the second largest earthquake ever recorded shook the heart of southern Alaska on March 27th, 1964, with a 9.2 magnitude quake. This earthquake was slightly larger than the magnitude 9.0 Sumatra-Andaman Islands earthquake that devastated northern Sumatra in December 2004 and generated a tsunami that killed more than 280,000 people. The largest on-land earthquake in North America in almost 150 years occurred on the Denali fault in central Alaska on November 3rd, 2002, with a magnitude of 7.9. So perhaps it’s not so unusual for earthquakes to occur in clusters in Alaska.

Alaska’s 1964 quake resulted in property damage, which was the largest Anchorage had experienced. In addition, the quake caused significant landslides. This mega-thrust earthquake also triggered a devastating tsunami that caused damage along the Gulf of Alaska, the West Coast of the United States, and in Hawaii.

The Guardian Express is currently monitoring news from the region and will bring you updated information once it’s available.

37km ENE of Cape Yakataga, Alaska 2012-11-29 23:37:19 60.240°N 141.851°W 3.1
5.0 57km WSW of Attu Station, Alaska 2012-11-29 23:22:35 52.631°N 172.410°E 33.2
2.5 Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska 2012-11-29 22:25:58 51.500°N 178.262°W 25.8
3.0 140km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

D. Chandler contributed to this report.