Alaska's 2025 Tsunami: Second-Tallest Recorded, Raises Safety Concerns
In 2025, Alaska experienced the second-tallest tsunami ever recorded, with a wave nearly as tall as the Empire State Building. This event occurred in a Southeast Alaska fjord and went largely undetected until after the fact. The tsunami was triggered by a massive landslide from the fjord's northern wall into the South Sawyer Glacier, located about 50 miles southeast of Juneau. The landslide, equivalent to a magnitude 5.4 earthquake, created a tsunami with a run-up of 1,578 feet above sea level. Despite the scale of the event, no injuries were reported, although kayakers in the area lost their gear. The incident highlights the challenges in monitoring such natural disasters, as the landslide went undetected by existing earthquake and volcano monitoring systems. 
