A Series Of Quakes Rattle Alaska Over The Weekend

California isn’t the only state to experience an earthquake in the last week; a series of quakes reportedly rattled Alaska over the weekend as well.

The first one hit on Saturday evening at approximately 11:57 p.m. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake originated approximately 65 miles west of Willow. The epicenter is reported to be in the Mat-Su, very near a small community called Skwentna, which only has a population of 37. No damage was reported, and residents stated that the jolt was not bad. One resident claims that they felt the shaking, but it was not strong enough to knock anything over.

At a magnitude of 5.3, that’s not surprising, even though the shaking lasted for more than a minute. Generally, it takes at least a magnitude of 6.5 to do any damage, and even then it’s generally minimal.

A much stronger quake rattled Alaska just the next day at approximately 8:49 p.m. This quake occurred in the middle of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and it ranked at a magnitude 6.9. The epicenter was about 45 miles southwest of the tiny village Nikolski (population 15), and the shaking began about 16 miles underneath the surface.

The earthquake was definitely strong enough to do damage, but since there are very few inhabitants of this island, and the quake was so far away from the small village, there have been no immediate reports of damages or casualties.

What followed was a series of 5.0-5.7 magnitude earthquakes that rattled the Fox Islands. Residents of these islands reported feeling the shaking, but thankfully no damage.

This is the first major series of earthquakes in Alaska since 2012, which occurred in early December. The largest state in the country received a blow when a magnitude 5.8 quake rattled the southern coast of Alaska.

This brought a bit of a scare to Alaskan residents because a quake on the coast can often mean a tsunami or other negative weather effects, but thankfully, it did not develop into anything more than a little rattle.

The last time a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska was in September of 2011, and it landed in much the same spot as this one, near the Aleutian Islands close to Atka. This quake came with a mass tsunami warning for the Island’s residents, but like the quake from this weekend, the wave was small, and there were no reported damages.

Scientists continue to predict upcoming earthquakes across the United States, and we can only hope that they will be as uneventful as the quakes that rattled Alaska this weekend.

[Image via Wikipedia.com]