7.9 earthquake in Alaska last week

Journal memfree's Journal: 7.9 earthquake in Alaska last week 2

Journal by memfree on Thursday November 07, 2002 @08:18PM

For those who didn't catch it, last weekend there was a 7.9 earthquake in Alaska about 75 miles south of Fairbanks (where my father and many friends live).

I found out about it on Monday upon checking my email. My dad had written that he was at work, and they'd just had a pretty big quake (there'd been a 6.7 during the night about a week before -- he'd have slept through that one had not the dog gone berserk).

I asked him and others about it, and I heard that it lasted for what seemed like 10-15 minutes, but was probably only 2 minutes. No one I know had significant damage done, but many lost breakables. A coworker of my dad reported that she'd been driving right in the vicinity of the quake when it happened, and thought to herself, "Gee, the road is sure a lot rougher than it looks." A friend who'd been sleeping in woke to it, slowly realized it was a quake, and decided he'd better put on pants in case the house fell down around him. He said he had time to wake up, think this, and act on it before the shaking subsided.

I've put together three sections of links. The first is always changing, the second is short-term news stories that will probably disappear, and the last is a series that are more likely to stay around longer.

Ever-changing map of the current quakes in the area
Cool-ass Seismic Monitor
(less related) Western Canada's Site with Daily seismographs

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News
CNN's story

Local (AK) stories:
Fairbanks lead quake story
Quotes from above:
- "The quake disrupted travel in several regions, closing an 80-mile stretch of the Richardson Highway"
- "One lane of the Parks Highway was closed at Mile 258 but the highway had been repaired and reopened by late evening."
- "In Mentasta Lake, at least one home was destroyed and others are unlivable without fuel"
- "In Northway, home to about 300 people, underground water shot through the broken earth like geysers"

Big bunches 'o text:
- Quake sends scientists scurrying
- Quake workers cast ballots

Anchorage paper's lead quake story and another text-only story from the same day
Quotes from above:
- "In Seattle, more than 1,400 miles away, some houseboats shook loose from their moorings."
- "Crews also closed 80 miles of the Richardson Highway between Delta and Paxson, 178 miles south of Fairbanks. Around Mile 197, the quake crunched the road like an accordion and left cracks 2 feet wide and 5 feet deep. Gaps along the highway between Mile 205 and 210 are up to 8 feet deep"
- "The pipeline is rated to withstand earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 to 8.5 depending on the area. The section south of Delta Junction where the damage occurred Sunday is designed for an 8.0 quake"

Big buncha text:
- Pipeline restarted, governor seeks disaster money

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More or less 'stable' links

Text summary of the quake's stats

This is a picture of where the quake occurred 75 miles south of Fairbanks next to a Glacier on road to Mt. McKinley (Denali)

Sand mud and water spewed out of the ground see side-menus, too.

Pipeline supports down and/or dangling

The college's page, UAF's Seismology page, is good,and has links to other good photos:
- Northway 'fountain features'
- Richardson Highway
- many pics (slow loading)

Seismo-watch reprints

Below are two pictures from within the USGS's event info :
- Where the Earthquake epicenter was located oct 23rd and Nov 3rd quake
- Animation of Earthquakes from Oct 23rd to Nov 7th south of Fairbanks east of Denali (Mt McMcKinley)

Kinda distant report from the University of Washington

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