Earthquake in Alaska
A large earthquake has been reported somewhat to the north of Anchorage, occurring at 8:30 AM local time (that’s 12:30 PM Eastern). Highways and buildings have sustained damage, but the extent is not yet clear.
This is a developing story. The reported magnitude keeps changing, but right now it’s said to have been 7.0.
I’ve lived in Anchorage since 1976 and this was the strongest and roughest earthquake I have ever felt. We lost power and had furniture knocked over. Apparently some roads and overpasses are damaged. Anchorage has pretty good building codes, so I think building damage will be minimal. We have had almost a dozen aftershocks as well.
I talked to my son who has a friend who has been in Anchorage on business. He is in the airport, which is closed. We were there in 2016. I’ll be interested to see how much damage Wasilla and Palmer have suffered.
I have family living there. Everyone is fine, but all are reporting damages from stuff falling off of walls, shelves, and cabinets.
The 1964 earthquake there was one of the largest ever recorded, according to the USGS exceeded only by an earthquake in Chile in 1960. One of only a handful to reach 9 on the Richter scale.
We were fascinated when we were in Alaska in 2015 by the still-evident damage in the Turnagain Arm from the great 1964 earthquake. Good to know there appear so far to be no deaths from this one, one hundred times less powerful than the ’64 quake. But I’ve seen photos of highways broken into chunks with sunken portions from the quake today, so damage will be extensive.
I was born in Anchorage a year after the ’64 quake and grew up there. I predict that other than a few sections of road and maybe a bridge or two, most of the damage will turn out to be superficial — lots of cracked drywall, dropped ceiling tiles, and burst pipes, but very few gas fires or collapsed houses. After the big quake, building codes were taken VERY seriously and we all had earthquake safety drilled into us in school every year on the anniversary. (Although I don’t know if they still do this.) There will be no repeats of the Turnagain neighborhood (now Earthquake Park), which was built on clay that liquefied and slid into Cook Inlet.
My dad’s apartment building — of no particular quality in an older neighborhood — suffered no serious damage except for the insufficiently-secured carport collapsing onto his car. My best friend’s office building downtown sustained some damage but his home in the foothills did not; likewise for my dad’s lady friend.
If Seattle — where I live now — suffered an equally-strong quake at similar depth and distance, we would be far worse off than Anchorage today.
“If Seattle — where I live now — suffered an equally-strong quake at similar depth and distance, we would be far worse off than Anchorage today.”
I probably need to be fact-checked on this, but my understanding is that Seattle is in fact in danger of a truly massive earthquake, i. e. around 9 on the Richter scale comparable to the Anchorage temblor or the one that hit Japan a few years ago.
“one hundred times less powerful than the ’64 quake”
I believe it is actually one thousand times less powerful, assuming a 2-point difference on the Richter scale (9 to 7). The Richter scale is logartihmic and each point represents an increase of approximately 30 times the release of energy.
Oh, darn it, I knew I’d mess up the Richter scale. Thanks for correction.
After visiting Alaska, I began reading about the Cascadia subduction zone. If there’s a repeat of the quake and tsunami of 1700, and there could be, Seattle would be far, far worse off than Anchorage.
Listen to professionals at work (ATC at Anchorage airport):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o80cNJ_XhX0&feature=youtu.be
I will always remember the 1964 Alaska Good Friday earthquake. I was on Johnston Island, southwest of Hawaii, and we were apprehensively waiting to see if there was going to be a tidal wave. Fortunately there wasn’t one because the highest point on Johnston Island is about 8 feet above sea level.
Actually, my engineer husband says my estimate of a Richter scale 9 quake being about 100 times stronger than a 7 quake is about right (not 1000 times). Every point on the logarithmic scale is ten times the previous one; 10 x 10 = 100.
According to Wikipedia, the factor is 31.6, not 10. So a difference in 2.0 magnitudes is 1000.