November 09, 2020

Andrew Campbell 

According to the report from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a moderate 5.1 earthquake and a number of aftershocks shook Anchorage of Alaska on the early morning of November 7. It reportedly hit at 3:23 a.m. local time, followed by the second earthquake of magnitude 3.9 minutes later and the third earthquake of magnitude 4.4 at around 6 a.m. along with a number of aftershocks.

All epicenters were located, reportedly at a moderately shallow depth of 22 to 25 miles, about 3 miles east of the town of Big Lake (population 3,400) and 21 miles north of Anchorage (population 298,700) of Alaska. There were no reports of any immediate damage.

Previously on July 21, a severe 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of southern Alaska, south of the Aleutian Islands, at 10:12 p.m. local time. The USGS reported the epicenter was about 65 miles southeast of Perryville on the sparsely populated Alaska Peninsula and 528 miles southwest of Anchorage. The seismologists reviewed recorded data and identified the epicenter occurred at about 17 miles (28 km) deep, so they considered it a shallow quake in the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone.

To be cautious of the three earthquakes and aftershocks on November 7, Alaska's transportation officials had temporarily diverted traffic on the Glenn Highway to the Old Glenn in order to inspect all bridges over the Knik River for probable seismic damage.

Photo:Webshot.