A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck under land in Alaska on October 15, centred about 155 miles west of Fairbanks, according to seismic monitoring reports.
The quake occurred at about 3:07 a.m. Anchorage time at a very shallow depth of roughly three miles, and was detected by dozens of monitoring stations. Shallow earthquakes are usually felt more strongly at the surface than deeper events of the same size.
Fairbanks, the nearest significant population centre, was estimated to have experienced only very weak shaking, with no damage expected there. The monitoring assessment put tsunami risk as very unlikely, since the event occurred under land.
No casualties or significant damage were reported in the initial assessments, which rated the likely human and economic impact as low.
