Rat Island
- ISS005-E-18285
- 23 October 2002
- 00:43 UTC
Rat Island, which gives its name to the Rat Islands group, is one of the smaller islands to be found within the Rat Islands which run along the central portions of the Aleutian arc for around 180 km. Amchitka — the largest island of the group — lies to the southeast across the Oglala Pass, with Little Sitkin — its nearest significant neighbour — being located to the northeast.
This part of the Aleutian arc was the scene of one of the largest earthquakes to occur in the region. In 1965 the Rat Island Earthquake (8.7 on the Richter scale) hit the islands — a plate movement that spread westwards from Rat Island along a 650 km stretch of the Aleutian Trench. Aftershocks from this event included numerous quakes of magnitudes 6 and 7.