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Alaska: Risks & Trends

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Same standard as every other page on this site: every figure below is independently sourced, and figures that vary across sources, or measure genuinely different things, are flagged as such rather than collapsed into one number that looks more precise than the underlying data actually supports.

The 1964 Good Friday earthquake

MetricFigure
Date March 27, 1964
Magnitude 9.2 (some sources cite 9.2-9.3), the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America
Duration of shaking 4 minutes, 38 seconds
Area of tectonic deformation 200,000+ sq km
Deaths, earthquake itself 15
Deaths, resulting tsunamis (AK/OR/CA) 124 (12 in Crescent City, CA alone)
Maximum tsunami run-up 220 ft, Shoup Bay, Alaska
Damage (1964 / 2013-adjusted) $500 million / ~$3.75 billion

A tsunami risk that reached three states

This earthquake’s death toll wasn’t confined to Alaska: the tsunamis it generated killed people as far away as Crescent City, California. It’s a clear demonstration that a single Pacific-coast seismic event can have consequences hundreds or thousands of miles from the epicenter, not just locally.

October 2025 Typhoon Halong remnant flooding

MetricFigure
Landfall October 12, 2025, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Western Alaska
Flood extent inland Up to 60 mi
Residents displaced 1,000+
Confirmed deaths 1, with 2 family members still missing at time of reporting
Notable damage Homes swept off foundations (some occupied at the time), snapped utility poles, uprooted village boardwalks, numerous diesel/oil spills, graves washed away, a year's stockpiled subsistence food (fish, berries) ruined
Evacuation scale One of the largest airlift evacuations in Alaska history

Still an open, unresolved situation

As of early 2026, affected villages were still weighing whether to relocate entirely rather than rebuild in place. Treat the specific figures above as a snapshot of an ongoing recovery, not a closed historical event, and expect them to be updated as the situation develops further.

Sources