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ALASKA QUAKEDID THE GROUND SHAKE NEAR YOU?

Western Alaska · 66.90°N

Earthquakes near Kotzebue

Reading the latest USGS reports for the ground near Kotzebue…

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.

Recorded USGS earthquakes from the last 7 days, magnitude 2.5 and larger, within 250 km of Kotzebue. The dashed pale circle is a true 250 km radius around Kotzebue; amber rings are the recorded epicenters, sized by magnitude; small cream squares are the other towns, and the ringed cream marker is Kotzebue. If the USGS feed does not answer, the coastline, ring, and marker still show — and no events are plotted.

Most felt near Kotzebue — last 7 days, within 250 km

Recent near Kotzebue — last 7 days, M1.0 and larger within 250 km, newest first

Every event links to its USGS event page, the authority for that earthquake. Distances are measured from Kotzebue, not copied from the feed's place names.

The biggest on record near Kotzebue — USGS catalog, as recorded

The five largest earthquakes recorded within 200 km of Kotzebue 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?

6 earthquakes of M4.0 or larger were recorded within 200 km in the last 10 years — a low rate. Since 1900 the catalog holds 90 M4-or-larger events within the same radius.

Kotzebue's recorded set clusters in the M5–6 range from the southern Brooks Range foothills and the Kobuk valley; like the rest of the northwest coast, its catalog understates small events for want of nearby instruments.

Western Alaska — why it shakes

Western Alaska is the quiet side of the state, but it is not silent. The seismicity here is scattered and mostly moderate — the Bering Strait and Seward Peninsula see occasional M5-class events, and the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta records small earthquakes along buried faults. What reaches the catalog here is only a fraction of what happens: the monitoring network is sparse, and events below about M4 often go unrecorded.

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.

Kotzebue on the sister sites

Daylight in Kotzebue — sunrise, sunset, and day length.

Aurora over Kotzebue — tonight's northern lights outlook.

Kotzebue — the nearest tide station in the fleet's inventory, 1 km from Kotzebue.