The United States Geological Survey reports Alaska experiences more than one thousand earthquakes every month. Four in five shakers in the U.S. occur in the Last Frontier.
Alaska has also had three of the largest earthquakes in the world.
“So it’s a no-brainer to have an earthquake commission look at earthquake risk mitigation issues, so we can prepare,” said John Aho, a structural engineer who helped establish the Alaska seismic hazards safety commission in 2005.
The commission is comprised of 11 people, all appointed by the governor. However, it’s an advisory group.
“That means they don’t have to listen to anything we say,” said Aho, chuckling.
Members travel to meet, make recommendations and raise awareness of potential dangers. The group’s annual budget is $10,000.
The seismic safety commission in California gets more than $1 million per year. The Golden State is home to 54 times more people, but experiences fewer earthquakes than the Last Frontier.
Perhaps the biggest difference is who is on California’s commission and who’s not on Alaska’s.
“The other committees already have a legislator on them,” said Buzz Scher, who heads up Alaska’s commission. “The other committees already have a legislator on them. That’s probably more of a difference than the money.”
Scher said having a lawmaker in the group would give its recommendations more weight and get more people to take notice, for example, of its latest report, which looks at the potential impacts of an earthquake outside of Alaska.
“People don’t recognize that a major earthquake on the Cascadia fault near Seattle could disrupt shipping and other facilities that bring goods into Alaska,” said Aho. “That could have a detrimental effect on Alaska.”
Experts say the next big one is not a matter of if but when and the threat is building in unstable ground both within and beyond the state.