A rare earthquake shook residents of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta early on the morning of April 22. The magnitude 4.1 quake was centered roughly 27 miles southeast of the lower Yukon River village of Holy Cross.
While many in the surrounding region were likely fast asleep just after 1 a.m. when the brief shake took place, residents of Holy Cross and multiple Kuskokwim River communities reported feeling the quake on social media and on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website.
Jaylene Pitka is a lifelong resident of the middle Kuskokwim River community of Upper Kalskag, around 54 miles from the epicenter. She said it was her first time ever experiencing an earthquake in her home village.
“I was laying down and then I heard like a whoosh noise, and my house shifted and my bed started shaking,” Pitka said.
Pitka said she initially wrote the incident off as a combination of a passing vehicle and her daughter walking around the house, but then saw Facebook posts confirming the earthquake from Aniak, about 30 miles upriver.
“After I saw that, I was like, ‘That was really an earthquake. Cool,’” Pitka said.
The United States Geological Survey categorizes the quake as “weak,” or “light,” with no expected damage. As of Monday evening (April 22), social media posts about the quake didn’t contain mention of damage to lower and middle Yukon and Kuskokwim River communities.
Heather McFarlin with the Alaska Earthquake Center said that while there is relatively limited seismic activity on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the available data are also limited.
“There is typically maybe about one 4 - 5 magnitude [earthquake] every other year,” McFarlin said. “We don’t have a ton of earthquakes over there, but historically we also didn’t have many seismometers either.”
According to USGS data currently available, the most recent earthquake in the region of comparable size came in 2005, registering 4.6 in magnitude and centered about 68 miles southwest of Monday’s quake. In 1903, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake was recorded just 35 miles to the southwest.
