Largest earthquake in 35 years hits Southwest Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck near Takotna Wednesday evening.

It was the largest quake to hit the area since a magnitude 5.4 quake struck just south of McGrath in December 1989.

Wednesday’s quake was nine miles southwest of Takotna, and just under six miles deep.

M5.2 earthquake strikes near McGrath, Alaska(AKNS)

According to the Alaska Earthquake Center, this earthquake was a right lateral strike-slip earthquake on the Iditarod-Nixon Fork fault line. The center said the last rupture on this fault line was in 1935.

About two dozen people reported to the USGS that they had felt the quake. One resident in Takotna shared with the Earthquake Center that the shaking was strong, but there seems to be no major damage in town.

In the town of Aniak, longtime resident Shan Adkins said it was the first earthquake she has felt in roughly 30 years of living there.

“It felt like a boat was passing by me, with rolling waves,” Adkins said. “Not a sudden jerk but just rolling waves, like about three to five different waves.

“Nothing fell around the house or anything like that, it was just rolling waves.”

Nearby in McGrath, students in school told the Earthquake Center they knew what to do when the shaking started because of the earthquake drills they did in class.

Following the earthquake at least two aftershocks were recorded, a magnitude 3.2 and a 3.5.

Adkins, 32, has felt earthquakes before while in Anchorage and other Southcentral Alaska communities, but never out in Aniak.

“I was in shock,” Adkins said. “If I was in Anchorage, I would’ve known to get underneath a doorway or table, but I was watching TV in the house, in the middle of the room and nothing could fall onto me.

“It was foreign for me to feel it out here.”

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com