Fairbanks

Aftershocks continue near Fairbanks following magnitude-5.1 earthquake

A series of aftershocks continued Sunday near Fairbanks, initiated by a magnitude-5.1 temblor that rattled the Interior Alaska city just after 7 p.m. Saturday.

That first quake started from a fault line just 10 miles from the small community of Minto, and 43 miles from Fairbanks. Originating at a shallow depth of 10 miles, it was no surprise that the shaker was felt in the city, Alaska's second largest.

A series of steady aftershocks began to rumble from the same area following the initial earthquake, according to the Alaska Earthquake Information Center, including dozens of smaller quakes in the hours directly after the 5.1 temblor. They included a magnitude-3.5 quake just after midnight that could reportedly be felt in the city, and a magnitude-3.2 aftershock around 1:30 a.m. Sunday.

The strongest aftershock came at 4:24 a.m., registering at a magnitude of 4.19, about 45 miles northwest of Fairbanks. Smaller aftershocks continued to resonate in the vicinity into the afternoon. A magnitude-3.9 quake, just 9 miles deep, hit at 1:58 p.m. Sunday.

The Fairbanks Police Department said they had received no reports of damage or injuries following the initial earthquakes or the aftershocks as of about 11 a.m. Sunday.

Earthquakes in Interior Alaska, though not entirely uncommon, occur much less frequently than in the southern coastal areas of the state. In April 2012, a magnitude-8.6 quake near the distant Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a magnitude-3.9 earthquake in the Minto Flats region of Interior Alaska, near the community of Nenana and not far from Fairbanks.

Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson is a former writer and editor for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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