At 4:31 a.m. yesterday morning, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit 174 miles away from Kodiak, Alaska. Shortly afterward, tsunami advisories went out to the surrounding areas, but have since been lifted. Evacuation preparations in surrounding coastal areas, such as San Francisco and San Francisco Bay, were issued for those within three to five blocks of the Pacific Coast and officials have warned residents to stay away from the coast for the next 12 hours.
According to the United States Geological Survey’s Twitter account, the earthquake was the result of strike-slip faulting, which is when rock displacement occurs in a horizontal position, as depicted below.
Courtesy: Thinglink.org
Alaskan residents described the earthquake as “slow rolling,” continuously building momentum, while others described it as the longest earthquake they’d ever experienced. While the earthquake was scary, officials say it could’ve been a lot worse had it been the result of a thrust fault rather than a strike-slip fault. Thrust faults, which occur when rocks are displaced vertically, rather than horizontally, cause some of the worst tsunamis, like the 2011 earthquake in Japan that killed more than 20,000 people, according to CNN.
Alaska is within the infamous Ring of Fire that encompasses New Zealand, the east coast of Asia, reaches over to Canada and the USA and all the way down to the southern tip of South America. When a slight shift occurs along this seismic belt, it can result in massive earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Within the past 24 hours, these have all occurred along the Ring of Fire, which has led many to fear that there’s more to come.
At this time, no deaths or injuries have been reported. To stay up to date with this developing story, visit the links below:
USGS Twitter: https://twitter.com/USGS
NWS Tsunami Alerts Twitter: https://twitter.com/nws_ntwc
Alaska News Twitter: https://twitter.com/alaska?lang=en