Several earthquakes that struck near the Yukon-Alaska border late on New Year’s Eve are part of an ongoing series of aftershocks following one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded in Canada.
The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck on Dec. 6, 2025 was one of the largest recorded earthquakes in the country since seismologists started tracking these kinds of events about 100 years ago, according to Nick Ackerley, a seismologist with the Canadian Hazards Information Service of Natural Resources Canada.
“It’s a very rich aftershock sequence because it was a fairly large event,” Ackerley said. “That’s not unusual.”
The aftershocks, which are technically earthquakes, refer to events close in time and space to another larger event or main shock, Ackerley explained. In this case, the initial rupture crossed the Yukon-Alaska border in a remote wilderness area.
“It didn’t happen close to any large population centres,” he said.
The effects of the earthquakes could be lightly felt in Whitehorse, as noted in reports on local social media and by Earthquakes Canada.
The most significant aftershocks on Dec. 31, 2025 registered at magnitudes of between 5.6 and 5.7 at 11:46 p.m. Yukon time, followed by a 5.0 at 11:51 p.m. and another 5.4 at 11:55 p.m. — while some Yukoners were preparing to ring in 2026 at midnight, per Ackerley.
The first of the more significant quakes reported by Earthquakes Canada hit about 271 kilometres west of Whitehorse on Dec. 31, 2025.
Damage hasn’t been reported and wouldn’t be expected, Earthquakes Canada noted.
Ackerley said they have received reports of objects moving in houses, such as pictures shaking on walls.
Ackerley is encouraging people who felt the impact to make a report via Earthquakes Canada’s website.
He is curious if people felt the whole sequence of events, so he hopes people will fill out the online form. Links to the survey can be found if one goes to the event-specific web pages at https://earthquakescanada.ca/ and then clicks “Did you feel it?”
More aftershocks are expected, per Ackerley.
He said it’s not uncommon for earthquakes to appear in clusters because when a rupture happens underground where the rock is slipping along a crack, then that stress can be transferred to neighbouring faults, and sometimes those slip.
“After a large earthquake, there’s a slightly elevated probability of earthquakes. There’s no such thing as earthquake prediction,” he said. “Nobody has any idea what time it’ll happen or what the magnitude will be.”
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
