Alaska earthquake strikes off coast as tremors detected

An earthquake measuring a 5.6 magnitude rocked several islands near Alaska on Monday night.

The tremors were felt across the Fox Islands in the volcanic Aleutian Islands chain at 9:13 p.m. local time. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), a government agency, shared the details on its website giving the time of the earthquake in Coordinated Universal Time as 6:13 a.m. UTC.

In terms of landslide estimates, the agency said “little or no area [is] affected” and “little or no population exposed.” The agency stated that it had issued a “green alert for shaking-relating fatalities and economic losses,” adding: “There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.”

The USGS posted preliminary details about the earthquake on social media site X (previously known as Twitter).

“Prelim M5.6 Earthquake Fox Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska Nov-28 )6:13 UTC,” the agency told its 127,000 followers.

Some of the cities exposed to the quake were Akutan, Dutch Harbor, and Unalaska, the USGG said on its website, adding: “Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are resistant to earthquake shaking, though vulnerable structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are unreinforced brick masonry and reinforced masonry construction.”

Newsweek has reached out by email to the USGS and the office of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy for further information and comment.

The Fox Islands are a group of islands in the Aleutian Islands chain off the coast of Alaska and are prone to frequent earthquakes year-round. That’s because the islands are in a particularly seismically active area due to two tectonic plates meeting beneath them. The Pacific Plate is being forced under the North American Plate and earthquakes occur as the plates move against each other.

The earthquake measured 5.6 on the moment magnitude scale (now more commonly used than the Richter scale). It occurred at a depth of 15.9 miles (25.6km) beneath the surface.

Although a 5.6 earthquake is considered to be moderate, and is not expected to have caused damage across the Fox Islands, an earthquake of that magnitude has been known to cause utter destruction elsewhere.

For example, a 5.6 magnitude quake—the same measurement as the one in Alaska on Monday—killed 260 victims and displaced some 13,000 people in Java, Indonesia, when homes and buildings collapsed in November 2022. That earthquake was a much shallower one though, occurring at a depth of just 6.2 miles (10 km) beneath the ground. Experts said Indonesia’s infrastructure was not equipped to withstand earthquakes particularly well.

Earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.5 to 5.4 are often felt but rarely cause damage. Earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.5 to 6 are considered moderate and may result in slight damage to buildings. Earthquakes of 6.1 to 6.9 may cause major damage in highly populated areas, while an earthquake of an 8 magnitude or higher can totally destroy communities near its epicenter. The devastating earthquake in Turkey earlier this year, which killed hundreds of people and decimated communities near the Syrian border, was a 7.8-magnitude quake.

The Aleutian Islands quake comes just two weeks after a surprise tremor rattled the Midwest, where earthquakes are uncommon. A 3.6 magnitude tremor hit Standard, Illinois, on November 15.

Earthquakes in the U.S. usually hit California and Alaska due to their location, while quakes in Texas occur occasionally which experts say may be a result of fracking.