Southeast Alaska · 59.24°N
Earthquakes near Haines
Reading the latest USGS reports for the ground near Haines…
Live sections load from the USGS feed. If the feed does not answer, this page says so — it never fills the gap with old numbers.
Most felt near Haines — last 7 days, within 250 km
- Loading felt reports…
Recent near Haines — last 7 days, M1.0 and larger within 250 km, newest first
- Loading recent earthquakes…
Every event links to its USGS event page, the authority for that earthquake. Distances are measured from Haines, not copied from the feed's place names.
The biggest on record near Haines — USGS catalog, as recorded
- M7.8MajorThe 1958 Lituya Bay, Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami
83 mifrom town - M7.2Major31 km SSW of Pelican, Alaska
112 mifrom town - M7.1MajorBritish Columbia-Yukon border, Canada
55 mifrom town - M6.7Strong66 km WSW of Pelican, Alaska
118 mifrom town - M6.3Strong48 km NW of Mosquito Lake, Alaska
60 mifrom town
The five largest earthquakes recorded within 200 km of Haines since 1900, from USGS catalog pulls made November 8, 2026. Pre-instrumental magnitudes are estimates, and catalog completeness varies by era — the fine print is on the about page.
How often does the ground move here?
42 earthquakes of M4.0 or larger were recorded within 200 km in the last 10 years — a busy rate by Alaska standards. Since 1900 the catalog holds 145 M4-or-larger events within the same radius.
Haines sits near the northern end of the Fairweather fault system; its recorded top five is headed by the 1958 Lituya Bay M7.8 and a 1972 M7.2 near Pelican — the big strike-slip events of Glacier Bay country, all within about 200 km.
Southeast Alaska — why it shakes
Southeast Alaska is strike-slip country. The Queen Charlotte–Fairweather fault system runs just offshore along the panhandle, the Pacific and North America plates sliding sideways past each other — the same style of faulting as California's San Andreas. The 1949 M8.1 Queen Charlotte earthquake and the 1958 M7.8 Lituya Bay earthquake, which triggered the tallest recorded wave run-up in the world, both came from this system.
New to the numbers? What magnitude means explains the scale in plain words — including why a whole step is about 32 times the energy, and why what people feel is not the same as damage.
Haines on the sister sites
Daylight in Haines — sunrise, sunset, and day length.
Aurora over Haines — tonight's northern lights outlook.
Haines Inlet — the nearest tide station in the fleet's inventory, 1 km from Haines.