The earthquake on Thursday was the largest to strike the area in about a decade, Holtkamp said. The earthquake’s depth likely helped prevent damage, Holtkamp said. The earthquake center had not received any reports of damage as of about an hour and a half after the earthquake. “Even if you were right on top of where the earthquake happened, you were about 50 miles away from it because it happened at 50 miles depth,” he said. “So no one is truly really close to this earthquake and that helps.” Aftershocks are likely to occur from this earthquake, but the U.S. Geological Survey said it is unlikely a quake of the same size will happen again in the same area within the next week.
An earthquake with a reviewed magnitude of 4.5 shook Southcentral Alaska on Tuesday night. The earthquake, centered about 69 miles west of Anchorage and about 15 miles northeast of Mount Spurr, occurred at 8:35 p.m. Tuesday at a depth of over 62 miles, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. Shaking was felt widely in parts of the Mat-Su and Anchorage, according to citizen reports submitted to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Good evening AK! We just reviewed a M4.5 at 8:35 pm, 62 Mike s deep and 37 miles NW of Tyonek. This event was felt widely throughout Anchorage & Mat-Su Valley. For more details & to fill out those DYFI reports, please go to https://t.co/5akX0vFEEipic.twitter.com/TubHcxTuV6 Alaska Earthquake Center (@AKearthquake) March 3, 2021