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Magnitude 6.8 earthquake hits south central Alaska overnight Magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits Alaska, one house explodes
(about 11 hours later)
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake knocked items off shelves and walls in south-central Alaska and jolted the nerves of residents in this earthquake prone region, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. A magnitude-7.1 earthquake knocked items off shelves and walls in south-central Alaska and jolted the nerves of residents in this earthquake-prone region on Saturday night. But there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The earthquake struck about 1.30 a.m. Alaska time and was centered 53 miles west of Anchor Point and 160 miles southwest of Anchorage, according to the US Geological Survey. In its initial report, the agency had classified the earthquake as a magnitude-7.1 event. One home was extensively damaged and an entire neighborhood was evacuated after a gas leak was reported, Kenai police chief Gus Sandahl said on Sunday morning.
The earthquake was widely felt by residents of Anchorage, and there are reports of scattered power outages from the Matanuska Electric Association and Chugach Electric in the Anchorage area. But the Anchorage and Valdez police departments say they have not received any reports of injury or significant damage. The earthquake struck about 1.30am and was centered 53 miles west of Anchor Point in the Kenai Peninsula, which is about 160 miles southwest of Anchorage, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Anchorage resident Ron Barta says his house shook about 1.34 am when the earthquake hit. Barta, 55, says the pictures on the walls started moving, but there was no damage to his house and no one was hurt. The USGS initially reported the earthquake at magnitude 7.1, downgraded it shortly after to magnitude 6.8, before raising it back to 7.1.
“I was sitting here with the dogs getting ready to go to bed about 1.34 local time. ... I felt a little rumble that didn’t quit for about 30 to 45 seconds. It felt like the house moved,” said Barta, who is married to an Associated Press reporter. “Some earthquakes have challenges associated with them, they are unusual or hard to monitor,” Alaska state seismologist Michael West said. “This is neither of them. southern Alaska is well instrumented, and this earthquake is of the style and type that we would expect in this area.”
The KSRM (Radio Kenai) radio station in the Kenai peninsula reported that about 2.30 am the Kenai Fire Department was on the scene of a gas leak and explosion at a home. Fire departments in Kenai, Anchorage and other communities were getting calls about the quake. He called it the strongest earthquake in this region of Alaska in decades. Alaska often has larger or more powerful earthquakes, such as a 7.9 last year in the Aleutians.
The violent shaking woke up Associated Press reporter Mark Thiessen, who had been asleep for about two hours when then quake struck. “However, last night’s earthquake is significant because it was close enough to Alaskan’s population centers,” West said, adding that aftershocks could continue for weeks.
“I remember the bed swaying back and forth, and loud noises, enough to wake me up even after taking sleeping pills,” said Thiessen, 53. “My husband came into the bedroom forcefully saying, ‘Get up! Get up!’ “ he said. “But I was already awake, trying to figure out what was happening.” The biggest aftershock Sunday was 4.7, and West said a magnitude 5 or magnitude 6 aftershock was possible.
Barta, who has lived in Anchorage for about 10 years, says Alaskans on social media say the earthquake woke them up. The quake caused a gas leak that lead to an explosion in one home and the evacuation of a neighborhood in the community of Kenai. About 30 homes were evacuated.
People were saying on social media that the earthquake “was the biggest I ever felt as long as I have lived here,” Barta said. A police officer extinguished a fire that started in a house. But flames started coming under a wall, and the officer backed off to let firefighters finish the work, Sandahl said.
One Twitter user wrote: “Everyone in Anchorage is awake and on Twitter right? Biggest longest #earthquake of my entire life. Family is all hanging in our bed now.” A home neighboring the one that was on fire exploded hours after the quake, Sandahl said. All firefighters and gas utility workers were accounted for, and there were no reports of injuries.
Crews were “definitely still trying to resolve the gas issue”, Sandal said nearly eight hours after the earthquake.
A shelter was set up at the Kenai Armory for those evacuating their homes, and Sandahl said there were about 20 people there.
The earthquake was widely felt by residents of Anchorage. But the Anchorage and Valdez police departments said they had not received any reports of injury or significant damage.
Vincent Nusunginya, 34, of Kenai said he was at his girlfriend’s house when the earthquake hit.
“It started out as a shaking and it seemed very much like a normal earthquake. But then it started to feel like a normal swaying, like a very smooth side-to-side swaying,” said Nusunginya, director of audience at the Peninsula Clarion newspaper. “It was unsettling. Some things got knocked over, but there was no damage.”
There were reports of scattered power outages from the Matanuska Electric Association and Chugach Electric in the Anchorage area. The Homer Electric Association reported on its website that about 4,800 customers were without power early Sunday in the Kenai Peninsula.
The Alaska Department of Transportation reported on its Facebook page that there was road damage near the community of Kasilof, on the Kenai Peninsula.
Andrew Sayers, 26, of Kasilof, was watching television when the quake struck.
“The house started to shake violently. The TV we were watching fell over, stuff fell off the walls,” he said. “Dishes were crashing, and we sprinted toward the doorway.”
Later, he was driving to his mother’s home when he came across a stretch of K-Beach road that was damaged in the quake.
“We launched over this crack in the road. It’s a miracle we didn’t bust our tires on it,” he said.
A tsunami is not expected as a result of the earthquake, the National Weather Service said.A tsunami is not expected as a result of the earthquake, the National Weather Service said.