The 2014 Palma Bay earthquake occurred at 02:54

Alaska Daylight Time The Alaska Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting nine hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−09:00). During daylight saving time its time offset is eight hours ( UTC−08:00). The clock time in this zone is based on mean solar ...

on July 25 in the northern southeastern panhandle of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. The earthquake registered 6.0 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

and had a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

of IV (''Light''). It was centered on Palma Bay, from

Elfin Cove Elfin Cove (Lingít: ''X̱’óot’k’'') is a census-designated place (CDP) near the northwestern corner of Chichagof Island in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 20 at the 2010 census, down from 32 at the 20 ...

and from the state capital of

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...

. Although there were no injuries or deaths, there were significant disruptions to

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

s throughout Southeast Alaska, including to major telecom providers

Alaska Communications Systems Alaska Communications (formerly Alaska Communications Systems or ACS) is a telecommunications corporation headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. It was the first telecommunications provider in the state of Alaska to maintain a third-generation wire ...

(ACS) and

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

wireless, Internet and other communication systems.

Earthquake

The earthquake struck along the strike-slip

Queen Charlotte Fault The Queen Charlotte Fault is an active transform fault that marks the boundary of the North American plate and the Pacific plate. It is Canada's right-lateral strike-slip equivalent to the San Andreas Fault to the south in California. The Queen Ch ...

, connecting Alaska's

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

tectonic area with Southeast Alaska. The mainshock was preceded by less than one minute by a M5.4 foreshock in the immediate area. There were also a number of other M5 or higher events in the days leading up to the main event, but Alaska state seismologist Michael West stated that there was no evidence that they were related.

Damage

The earthquake caused widespread outages to telecommunications in Southeast Alaska. Cellphone, Internet and other communications were disrupted for customers of ACS and AT&T throughout the day. Businesses in the area were unable to process credit card transactions, and many local websites were inaccessible. Outages were caused by damage to

undersea The underwater environment is the region below the surface of, and immersed in, liquid water in a natural or artificial feature (called a body of water), such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, reservoir, river, canal, or aquifer. Some characterist ...

fiber optic cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...

serving the area. Other outages included the website of

Alaska Electric Light & Power Alaska Electric Light & Power, also known as AEL&P, is the power utility for Juneau, the capital city of Alaska. AEL&P gets their electricity primarily through the Snettisham hydroelectric power plant, located in an uninhabited region Southeast ...

, the area's largest provider of electricity, although electrical service was not disrupted.

References

External links

* {{Earthquakes in the United States 2014 earthquakes 2014 in Alaska Communications in Alaska Palma

Earthquake

Damage

See also

References

External links