Alaska Earthquake Today: Live Map and Latest Quakes

Key context

What is normal in Alaska

Over the 30 years 1996-2025, USGS recorded 11,420 earthquakes of M4 or more in Alaska: about 381 a year, or 32 a month. The past 12 months had 467, about 23% more than the 30-year average. Quakes of M6 or more average 5.1 a year here (152 in 30 years), and 6 of them happened in the past 12 months.

Busy years usually mean one large quake and its aftershocks: the peak year here was 2018 with 669. Counts cover Alaska and its coastal waters, including the whole Aleutian chain (the map shows Alaska east of 170°W; western Aleutian quakes are in the lists). They come from the USGS ComCat catalog, which records small quakes more completely in the US than elsewhere, so compare like with like.

Largest earthquakes recorded in Alaska

Plates and faults

Southern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands sit above the Aleutian-Alaska megathrust, where the Pacific Plate dives north beneath the North American Plate. This boundary produced the M9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake of 27 March 1964, the largest recorded in North American history, and the M8.2 Chignik quake of 2021.

Inland, the Pacific slab continues under Anchorage and the Cook Inlet, causing intermediate-depth quakes such as the M7.1 Anchorage quake of 30 November 2018. Crustal faults such as the Denali Fault (M7.9 in 2002) and the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault in the south-east add more.

• Aleutian megathrust (Aleutians, Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak, Prince William Sound)
• Pacific slab under Anchorage and Cook Inlet
• Denali Fault (interior Alaska)
• Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault (south-east Alaska)
• Castle Mountain Fault (near Anchorage)

Where the recent quakes were

Of the 481 quakes of the past 30 days, 369 were shallow (less than 70 km deep), 112 intermediate (70-300 km) and 0 deep (more than 300 km). 27 reached M4 or more. The places USGS named most often were Adak, Alaska (77), Nikolski, Alaska (43), Sand Point, Alaska (29).

Official sources and warnings

• Alaska Earthquake Center (University of Alaska Fairbanks): Alaska's state seismic network; it locates far more small quakes than appear here.
• National Tsunami Warning Center (Palmer, Alaska): tsunami warnings for Alaska, the US West Coast and Canada.

What to do in an earthquake

If you feel shaking: Drop, Cover and Hold On until it stops. Stay away from windows and heavy furniture, and do not run outside during the shaking. On a coast, strong or long shaking is a natural tsunami warning: move to high ground or inland at once, on foot if you can. Then follow your local officials; this page is not a warning service.

In Alaska, Drop, Cover and Hold On. On the coast, move to high ground after strong or long shaking and follow the National Tsunami Warning Center and local sirens.