Kavik River Camp, Alaska— The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the region hit Alaska’s North Slope on Sunday, said the state’s seismologist.
At 6.58 a.m. Sunday the magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit the area 42 miles east of Kavik River Camp and 343 miles northeast of Fairbanks. The latter is the state’s second –biggest city.
According to the agency, the earthquake had a depth of about 6 miles.
Mike West, state seismologist told that the earthquake was the biggest event ever happened in the North Slope by a substantial amount. The seismologist told the Daily News that this was a significant event that will take time to reflect upon.
The previous most powerful quake in the North Slope was in 1995.T he magnitude was of 5.2, according to West. This time the earthquake jumped from 5.2 to Sunday’s 6.4.
The rapid growth in strength as magnitude rises was significant.
The earthquake of 6.4 changes the way we think about the region. The seismologists believe it’s safe to do the re-evaluation of the seismic potential of the area.
The earthquake was felt by workers at the oil-production facilities in and around Prudhoe Bay.
Good news is that, fortunately, enough the earthquake did not bring any damage to the trans-Alaska pipeline. The company will take in consideration of inspecting the pipeline, even though there are no operational concerns related to the earthquake.
The second area that got hit by the earthquake was about 340 miles northeast of Fairbanks, the state’s second-biggest city. It occurred at 7.14 a.m. with the magnitude of 6.5.
According to The Alaska Earthquake Center (AEC), the earthquake was felt across the eastern part of the State’s North Slope Borough.There is no evidence of damage, the center adds.
An animated image of the seismic activity was tweeted by AEC. The red star on it indicates the epicenter.
