Alaska is one of the most seismically active parts of the United States and early Thursday morning residents near Anchorage received a reminder of that fact. A magnitude 5.0 temblor stuck in the evening hours on Wednesday and was felt across the south-central area of the state.
Centered 50 miles north-northwest of Anchorage, the quake struck at 07:15pm and according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was at a depth of 12.9 miles below the surface.
The service said it had received reports of the temblor being felt as far away as Palmer and Valdez to the east and Skwentna to the west. Residents of Anchorage and Seward to the south also felt the shaking.
Being along the Pacific Ring of Fire, Alaska regularly experiences earthquakes although most are small and not felt. The boundary of the North American and Pacific tectonic plates that runs through south-central Alaska and the Aleutian Islands is where most of the activity occurs.
The Alaska Earthquake Information Center (AEIC) says that the state receives from 50 to 100 earthquakes a day. Three of the 10 largest earthquakes recorded in the world, all larger than magnitude 7.9, have been recorded in Alaska.