On the morning of Nov. 30, 2018, residents of Southcentral Alaska experienced the strongest shaking since the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964. The magnitude 7.1 Anchorage earthquake lasted less than a minute, but the economic and societal impacts will resonate for years. Alaska has a long history of strong earthquakes -- why was this particular one remarkable? Was it “the next big one?” No, but why not? What does earthquake monitoring in the state look like now, and what might the future hold? We’ll talk about the science of the Anchorage earthquake, the long- and short-term effects, and why you should focus on more than an earthquake’s magnitude.