Alaska Ranks First in Earthquake Marathon

It is almost inevitable that people generally think of California as being the most earthquake-prone area of the United States. Certainly, this Doomsday image has been enhanced by the media in a number of movies, books and T.V. programs.

It must come as somewhat of a disappointment to the sensationalists to find that our southern neighbor is only a distant second in receiving the greatest number of significant shocks during any given period of time.

To illustrate, Dr. John Davies, Alaska State Seismologist with the Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, drew up the accompanying figure. The data are based on information reported in bulletins published by the International Seismological Center, which has contributors from over 20 nations. There is little need to comment. The diagram speaks for itself.

In fairness, it should be pointed out that Alaska is roughly 3.7 times the size of California, meaning that the state can boast a "advantage" of several times over our neighbor to the south when it comes to the areas subject to earthquake hazards. But it still signifies that in Alaska major "events" occur that are rarely noted by the press because it is sparsely populated. Many of these are in the Aleutians and do little more than shake the low-lying dwellings of the people who may be living there, and minimum damage results.

To take one example: In 1979, 476 Alaskan earthquakes of magnitude greater than 3.0 (the lower range of 'feelability') were reported to the National Earthquake Information Service in Denver. In all the rest of the United States combined, a total of only 261 were reported. California accounted for 179 of these.

Even though it is difficult to seismically instrument the entire state and many earthquakes go unrecorded, it is clear that Alaska has a level of seismicity well above that of any place "outside".