Alaska shakes the most and gets the least warning

When a big earthquake starts in California, Oregon, or Washington, phones there can buzz seconds before the ground moves. Alaska, which has more large earthquakes than any other state, has no such system.

A federal plan would change that. The U.S. Geological Survey's blueprint for extending ShakeAlert to Alaska calls for 450 real-time seismic stations, most of them new, with the first phase covering Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kodiak, and Prince William Sound — roughly 90 percent of Alaskans. Congress put $34.9 million toward ShakeAlert in March, at least $2 million aimed at Alaska. How fast it arrives depends on continued state and federal funding.

The Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission, which helped shape the plan and advises the governor and legislature on seismic risk, meets Aug. 13 at the UAA Library. Three USGS scientists will brief it, among them Peter Powers, who helped lead the 2023 hazard model that found sharply higher shaking risk across much of south-central Alaska. The meeting is open to the public.