The June 1, 1955 earthquake

M6.7near Adak, Alaska

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake 12.4 miles deep, 30.1 miles off Aleutians West Census Area. The 133rd strongest in Alaska’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 6.7 on October 12, 1926. 3 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.

The earthquake

Magnitude
6.7
moment magnitude (mw)
Depth
12.4 mi
20.0 km below the surface
Local time
Wednesday, June 1, 1955
13:19 NST; 00:19 UTC on Jun 2, 1955
Epicentre
51.42°N, 179.84°W
30.1 mi from Aleutians West Census Area
In Alaska’s record
133rd
strongest of 124,625 since 1900
Within 50 miles
1
county; more on this date

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgem889594 (“227 km WSW of Adak, Alaska”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.

Aftershocks

Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 20 miles of the epicentre in the 30 days after.

3

Aftershocks in 30 days

6.7

Largest aftershock, Jun 20, 1955 · its page

1

On the first day

0

In the 7 days before

Aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more, by day after the earthquake 1: 1 1 2: 0 3: 0 4: 1 5: 0 6: 0 7: 0 8: 0 9: 0 10: 0 11: 0 12: 0 13: 0 14: 0 15: 0 16: 0 17: 0 18: 0 19: 1 20: 0 21: 0 22: 0 23: 0 24: 0 25: 0 26: 0 27: 0 28: 0 29: 0 30: 0 1611162126
  1. The search radius is the surface rupture length expected for an earthquake of this magnitude (Wells and Coppersmith, 1994), at least 20 and at most 600 miles, so a great earthquake's sequence is counted along its whole fault.
  2. Before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s many small aftershocks went unrecorded, so early sequences read short.

Counties and cities within 50 miles

Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.

Counties

Earthquakes around the epicentre

3,014 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.

Earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of the epicentre, by year 1973: 29 1974: 14 1975: 22 1976: 13 1977: 13 1978: 24 1979: 11 1980: 5 1981: 5 1982: 7 1983: 10 1984: 12 1985: 10 1986: 12 1987: 37 1988: 10 1989: 38 1990: 13 1991: 9 1992: 18 1993: 14 1994: 16 1995: 45 1996: 30 1997: 79 1998: 32 1999: 14 2000: 25 2001: 49 2002: 51 2003: 61 2004: 79 2005: 193 2006: 210 2007: 211 2008: 223 223 2009: 57 2010: 64 2011: 68 2012: 52 2013: 60 2014: 63 2015: 65 2016: 60 2017: 55 2018: 50 2019: 56 2020: 169 2021: 105 2022: 108 2023: 131 2024: 121 2025: 86 19731978198319881993199820032008201320182023

Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.