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Earthquake aftershocks are continuing to contribute to settling and cracking. Glenn Highway southbound traffic, just south of the Knik River at the Old Glenn Highway, is down to one lane. We are working at eight of the highest priority sites out of the 50 damaged locations on state-maintained infrastructure identified so far.
It is important to frequently check your facilities’ status for changes. Please check the links below to verify if your building is suitable for occupancy. Construction crews are temporarily stopping traffic on the Glenn Highway at Mirror Lake in order to switch traffic back to the mainline. Thank you for your patience while we finished these repairs! This is damage from the original earthquake and is limited to the Eagle River Bridge area. Currently paving, will be able to open to traffic late this evening, there is one potential bump that may need to be addressed but can be done under a lane restriction if needed.
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Some suffered broken bones, and one resident suffered serious smoke inhalation while trying to put out a post-quake fire at his home. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District reported that all students were safe. The site of major road damage on Vine Road in Wasilla, Alaska, was crawling with local residents on Sunday eager to see the most dramatic earthquake damage. Thank you for being patient with us during this time as our crews continue to evaluate the damage across the state.
Due to extensive damage on the Glenn Highway, between miles , DOT&PF is requesting that other state agencies keep employees at home, if possible. DOT&PF is advising that if travel is not essential, please avoid the area. That’s because it’s harder to compact asphalt before it cools and hardens when it’s cold outside. Asphalt that is sufficiently compacted is stronger and lasts longer.
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Though volcanic activity causes only a small proportion of Alaska's earthquakes, these earthquakes often warrant more detailed analysis. Ten-hour seismograms from a seismic station on Atka Island on August 6 & 7, 2008. The sudden appearance of numerous earthquakes was an early sign of an eruption that began later in the day on August 7. Not all swarms of earthquakes indicate eruptions; but nearly all eruptions are preceded by vigorous seismic activity. The Alaska Earthquake Center exists to minimize our risks by understanding where earthquakes occur and why. Tracking the earthquakes that occur each day provides clues about the earthquakes that are likely in the future.
The National Weather Service and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially issued a tsunami watch for Hawaii and the entire West Coast, but cancelled them after less than two hours. In the San Francisco Bay Area, residents within three blocks of the Pacific coast and five blocks of the San Francisco Bay were warned by the city's Department of Emergency Management to be ready for evacuation. Providence Alaska Medical Center kept its ER open and was evaluating damage and water leaks. “I’ve lived in earthquake country my whole life, and this was by far the worst,” he said. It was the first earthquake Anchorage resident Melissa Lohr has experienced. A security camera captured the reaction of a mother as she held her son during the first hit of the earthquake as the chandelier swings in the kitchen.
U.S. Department of the Interior
All sport practices and events originally scheduled for Friday were canceled, including a complimentary performance of the Homer Nutcracker Ballet for families and others. All afternoon classes for Title 1, preschool and special education preschool were also cancelled Friday. Once they realized the power was out and the conference was canceled, Spencer said he and Rieske decided there was no reason to stick around. Coincidentally, he said members of NOAA were also in attendance at the conference, and were able to let everyone know they were safe from a tsunami at their location. Someone shouted for everyone to get out, so Spencer and Rieske exited the café.
Despite the obliquity of convergence, active volcanism and megathrust earthquakes are also present along this margin. The newsroom studio of KTVA in Anchorage was heavily damaged, but the channel remained on the air. The Alaska Airlines Center, a large sports complex on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus, flooded due to broken fire sprinkler pipes. UAA's older Wells Fargo Sports Complex suffered similar damage. In South Anchorage, Dimond High School had ceiling tiles and other debris littering the floor throughout the campus.
Back in Alaska, people reported on social media that the quake was felt hundreds of miles away, in Anchorage. Reports varied about how long the quake's shaking lasted, depending on location. In British Columbia, sirens blared and officials banged on doors to wake people from their sleep as a tsunami warning was issued along a large swath of the Canadian province's coastline. The magnitude 7.9 quake in the Gulf of Alaska triggered the jarring alert that roused people shortly after midnight Tuesday. Fleeing motorists clogged some highways in their rush to higher ground. There was also heavy damage in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley (Mat-Su), north of Anchorage.
Strike-slip earthquakes involve horizontal motion across a fault, and do not generate significant uplift or subsidence. This means they do not, in turn, cause the significant displacement of the water column above the earthquake rupture required to generate a large tsunami. Contributions to the Alaska earthquake catalog over a decade.
The earthquake prompted tsunami warnings and advisories for Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. Residents in low-lying areas along the Gulf of Alaska and in British Columbia were evacuated to shelters and higher ground. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later cancelled most of the alerts within four hours of the earthquake, due to the apparent lack of tsunami.
As part of planned emergency training, the hospital will hold in-house pandemic training this week that includes setting up an Incident Command Center like it did for Friday’s earthquake. The hospital also participates in a pandemic exercise from 8 a.m. As part of that exercise, the community can get free flu shots. Some Anchorage hospitals reported issues with water supply from pipes breaking, but staffing and beds are fine, she said. Hospitals in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley have plenty of bed capacity if Anchorage has a need. All schools in danger of a potential tsunami were evacuated to Homer High School, which was also opened as a shelter for the public.
Examples of this type of earthquake include the 1964 magnitude 9.2 Good Friday Earthquake and the 1965 magnitude 8.7 Rat Islands Earthquake, the second and eighth largest earthquakes ever recorded worldwide. It prompted the warning across thousands of miles of Alaska's southern coast, from Attu in the Aleutian Islands to Canada's border with Washington state. Kodiak is about 200 miles south of Anchorage, the state's largest city, which was not under a tsunami threat. "Earthquake-damaged Mat-Su school to remain closed the rest of the school year". Over 80 aftershocks of various magnitudes were recorded throughout the day, with at least three having magnitudes greater than 5.0.
Large earthquakes can create many hazards such as liquefaction and landslides. The USGS has added near-real-time estimates of such ground failures for this earthquake event. This is the first major earthquake in the United States for which this product is available. The models indicate that liquefaction and landsliding have likely occurred and may be responsible for damage to infrastructure, with liquefaction potentially being the larger issue.
Biggest Earthquakes Near Homer, Alaska, United States
This earthquake occurred in the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, on a fault within the subducting Pacific slab rather than on the shallower boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. The earthquake was not related to movement of a fault near the Earth’s surface. This earthquake is perhaps most similar in setting to the magnitude 6.8, 2001 Nisqually earthquake, which occurred near Seattle, and caused between 1 and 4 billion dollars in damages. Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz likewise declared a state of emergency for his city, and requested both state and federal assistance. The local public bus system, People Mover, ended service for the day following the earthquake.
Residents of Anchorage, Alaska, had barely had begun their workday when the ground began violently shaking Friday. But he also deeply enjoys life in his coastal town, he said; he can kite-ski, kayak, surf, hike. He particularly enjoys long rides along scenic Alaska highways on his motorcycle. The Anchorage fire chief, Jodie Hettrick, urged residents who had experienced any anxiety or trouble sleeping after the quake to pursue mental health services. Aftershocks on Friday night in particular kept many people awake. Alaska became a state in 1959, but it remains deeply misunderstood by many Americans who have never lived there.
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