The April 15, 1970 earthquake

M6.7near Yakutat, Alaska

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake 6.2 miles deep, 22.7 miles off Yakutat City and Borough. The 140th strongest in Alaska’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 6.7 on May 14, 1908. 1 aftershock of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.

The earthquake

Magnitude: 6.7; moment magnitude (mw)
Depth: 6.2 mi; 10.0 km below the surface
Local time: Wednesday, April 15, 1970; 19:33 AHST; 05:33 UTC on Apr 16, 1970
Epicentre: 59.77°N, 142.60°W; 22.7 mi from Yakutat City and Borough
In Alaska’s record: 140th; strongest of 124,625 since 1900
Within 50 miles: 2; counties; more on this date

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgem796787 (“163 km W of Yakutat, 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.

Aftershocks in 30 days

5.7

Largest aftershock, Apr 19, 1970

On the first day

In the 7 days before

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.
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

Yakutat City and BoroughAK · 22.7 mi
Chugach Census AreaAK · 47.6 mi

Earthquakes around the epicentre

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

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

May 14, 1908M6.7
February 23, 1970M6.2
September 30, 1965M6.1
September 23, 1958M6.0
September 19, 1933M5.8
April 10, 1970M5.8
May 16, 1964M5.7
April 30, 1964M5.5

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