• In 2002 a magnitude 7.9 quake on the Denali Fault shoved the ground about 14 feet sideways under the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, but engineers had designed Teflon sliders for the pipe nearly 30 years earlier, and no oil spilled.

    ByRishav Kothari

    On November 3, 2002, the M7.9 Denali Fault earthquake ruptured about 340 km (211 miles) of central Alaska and displaced the ground beneath the Trans-Alaska Pipeline by roughly 4.3–5.8 m (14–19 feet), depending on how the distributed rupture is measured. The pipe slid across low-friction supports and flexed through its zigzag alignment; it did not rupture and no oil escaped.

  • In July 1958, an earthquake shook about 30 million cubic meters of rock into Alaska’s Lituya Bay, and the splash stripped forest from a slope 1,720 feet high, taller than the Empire State Building; Howard Ulrich and his 7-year-old son rode the wave out in their fishing boat

    ByReet Kaur

    The July 9, 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami in southeast Alaska stripped forest from a mountainside 524 m (1 720 feet) above sea level after an earthquake-triggered rockslide crashed into Gilbert Inlet. The extraordinary height marked the water’s run-up on a slope, not a wave of that height traveling through the bay; two people died, while Howard Ulrich and his 7-year-old son survived aboard a fishing boat lifted by the wave.

  • M6.0 earthquake hits northwest of Port-Olry, Vanuatu

    ByRishav Kothari

    A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 struck 214 km (133 miles) NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu, at 02:21 UTC on October 28, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.

  • Strong earthquake sequence strikes off northern Vanuatu after initial M6.9 event

    ByRishav Kothari

    An M6.9 earthquake struck off northern Vanuatu at 13:31 LT (02:31 UTC) on October 24, 2026, followed four minutes and 29 seconds later by an M6.3 event and at least eight additional M5+ earthquakes in the USGS catalog through 05:23 UTC.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the tsunami threat had passed at 03:28 UTC. No immediate damage or casualties were reported.

  • M7.0 earthquake kills at least 16, injures 76 in Xizang, China

    ByRishav Kothari

    An M7.0 earthquake struck Baqen County in China’s Xizang Autonomous Region at 22:33 LT (14:33 UTC) on October 22, 2026, killing at least 16 people and injuring 76, according to the latest Nagqu municipal assessment. Authorities said homes belonging to 339 households had collapsed or been damaged, while 12 489 residents had been relocated by 10:00 LT on October 23.

  • Strong and shallow M6.3 earthquake hits Vanuatu

    ByTeo Blašković

    A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.3 hit Vanuatu at 04:20 UTC on October 20, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 16 km (9.9 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.3 at a depth of 5 km (3.1 miles). According to the NWS Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake.