Human activity can cause “healed” faults to release their stored strength, triggering unexpected quakes in tectonically stable regions.

For some residents, the morning shake was a reminder of a powerful quake that also struck near Anchorage in late November, at a similar time of the morning, seven years ago. The 2018 earthquake was 7.1 in magnitude and crippled infrastructure in the southern part of the state.

A quiet Friday afternoon in central Myanmar was shattered on March 28, 2025, when a massive magnitude 7.7 earthquake tore through the region. The rupture followed the notorious Sagaing Fault, a strike-slip boundary known for splitting the land horizontally.