Alaska Earthquake

[aramis]

There was an earthquake in Alaska. As many of you know, I am from Alaska. I haven't been in Alaska for some time now, but my wife still is.

She's fine. There is visible damage to buildings in downtown Anchorage.

Several friends' houses look ransacked; everything bounced off shelves; shelving units fallen. Large areas without power.

Peter Newman is also safe. He's still got power

Previous 40 Tsunami Messages
Issued *	Origin Time *	Mag 	Depth 	Lat 	Lon 	Location	Messages	Additional Resources **
11-30-2018 20:30:18
11-30-2018 20:26:54	5.2	15 Mi.	61.4° N	150° W	35 MILES SW OF PALMER, ALASKA	AK/BC/US West Coast  Informational #1	
11-30-2018 19:29:45
11-30-2018 19:26:28	4.9	18 Mi.	61.4° N	149.9° W	30 MILES SW OF PALMER, ALASKA	AK/BC/US West Coast  Informational #1	
11-30-2018 18:58:45
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	25 Mi.	61.3° N	149.9° W	35 MILES SW OF PALMER, ALASKA	AK/BC/US West Coast  Warn/Adv./Watch #4	
11-30-2018 18:29:02
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	25 Mi.	61.3° N	149.9° W	35 MILES SW OF PALMER, ALASKA	AK/BC/US West Coast  Warn/Adv./Watch #3	
11-30-2018 18:05:15
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	25 Mi.	61.3° N	149.9° W	35 MILES SW OF PALMER, ALASKA	AK/BC/US West Coast  Warn/Adv./Watch #2	
11-30-2018 17:39:51
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	21 Mi.	61.3° N	149.9° W	SOUTHERN ALASKA	Guam/CNMI  Informational #1	
11-30-2018 17:39:21
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	21 Mi.	61.3° N	149.9° W	SOUTHERN ALASKA	American Samoa  Informational #1	
11-30-2018 17:39:04
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	21 Mi.	61.3° N	149.9° W	SOUTHERN ALASKA	Hawaii  Informational #1	
11-30-2018 17:38:42
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	21 Mi.	61.3° N	149.9° W	SOUTHERN ALASKA	Non-US/Canada Pacific  Informational #1	
11-30-2018 17:35:43
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7.2	17 Mi.	61.3° N	149.8° W	30 MILES SW OF PALMER, ALASKA	AK/BC/US West Coast  Warn/Adv./Watch #1	
11-30-2018 17:32:43
11-30-2018 17:29:28	7	21 Mi.	61.3° N	149.8° W	30 MILES SW OF PALMER, ALASKA	AK/BC/US West Coast  Informational #1

 

[inexorabletash]

Thanks for the update. Saw the news, was concerned about you.

 

[Supplement Four]

Glad to hear that your wife is safe. And those we know.

Thanks for the update.

 

[aramis]

Cryton is also an "Alaskan trapped in the Lower 48" - he's in California these days.

 

[McPerth]

Glad to know you and your family are well.

I guess many here thought about you when heard about the earthquake in the news, even while you said you're currently in Oregon in the Where are we living thread.

Three are no reported serious personal injuried, if the news here are right.

 

[aramis]

Glad to know you and your family are well.

I guess many here thought about you when heard about the earthquake in the news, even while you said you're currently in Oregon in the Where are we living thread.

Three are no reported serious personal injuried, if the news here are right.

My wife says local news reports zero fatalities.

 

[aramis]

The Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage's local "newspaper") cites no known deaths.

 

[Barsanuphius]

Glad your wife is safe.

 

[whartung]

Yup, good news.

Were we to get hit with a 7.0 in So Cal, we likely would have some losses, depending on the time of day.

But at the same time, any casualties we may suffer will be vastly lower than potentially any other similarly dense place (save Japan, they probably have better quake standards than even California).

We only, officially, lost 33 people as a direct result of the quake 1994 6.7 Mag Northridge Quake (and almost half of those was a single building).

San Francisco lost 63 in 1989 6.9 quake. And, again, a bulk of those was a singular event during the quake (collapse of a freeway exacerbated by a design flaw).

I simply mention these because CA has put a lot of time and effort in to our building codes to mitigate quake damage and spare human casualties. There's certainly a lot of economic damage, and disruption from the quakes. But having lived through the 94 quake directly, we carried on turned things around quite quickly. We were repairing stuff for years, but we got more or less back to normal within a week or two.

Glad to hear Anchorage didn't have any loss of life, I'm confident they'll be getting back on their feet quickly.

 

[Quint]

Yeah, a friend of mine lives in Anchorage (I was out visiting him earlier last month) and he was fine, but that there was broken glass everywhere in his apartment, etc.

D.

 

[giant.robot]

I simply mention these because CA has put a lot of time and effort in to our building codes to mitigate quake damage and spare human casualties. There's certainly a lot of economic damage, and disruption from the quakes. But having lived through the 94 quake directly, we carried on turned things around quite quickly. We were repairing stuff for years, but we got more or less back to normal within a week or two.

Glad to hear Anchorage didn't have any loss of life, I'm confident they'll be getting back on their feet quickly.

Apparently Alaska and California have extensive quake response plans with a fair amount of collaboration and for the same reasons. For instance a lot of roads were outright destroyed by the quake but were able to be repaired and operational within days. Good building codes and adherence to the same likely saved a lot of lives and prevented major injuries. Way to go Alaska for quake planning. Glad to hear aramis el al are also ok.

/posted from quake prone California

 

[aramis]

Anchorage's building code pretty much requires the ability to resist a magnitude 8 centered in downtown...

Code varies widely within the state... Barrow only recently (last 15 years) removed the ban on indoor plumbing... (but stopped enforcing it in the 80's.)

Also, there is significant structural damage... but most of the buildings are judged safe enough to survive another such quake...

Tho' 2 of the four schools my kids went to are on the unsafe list... Gruening (pronounced Green-ing; yes, I know the family, and that is how they pronounce it) Middle School and Eagle River Elementary (which is on land donated to the School District by the family which originally homesteaded what is now downtown Eagle River: Ruth and Dale Briggs. Yes, I knew them, too. Their house used to be just past the school grounds... I was sore peeved when the guy who bought it violated the restraining order and demolished it the day before its historic preservation hearing.)
Me, I went to Homestead and Lake Otis Elementaries, both of which are open for business again, and AJ Wendler Junior High (now AJ Wendler Middle School), and Chugiak High School. CHS once again houses Gruening... which it hasn't done since 1984.

See, up until 1983-84 school year, Gruening Jr. High was part of the CHS building - a sprawling building... I can still draw a decent map of how it was... anyway... in 1981-1983, a new, separate, building was being build got GJHS. In an early snow (september), the Gym roof caved in. But CHS was massively overcrowded with CHS+GJHS in one building, so they double-shifted. That was freshman year for me.

Grades 9-12 from 0630-1200, and grades 7-8 from 1230-1800.
Well, GJMS students get to experience the fun of being in a building with HS students again.

West high School, which lost half the upper floor in 1964, is still standing. Most everyone in town spent some time over in West's building - West's auditorium was used for many events, including more than one rock concert... Romig Middle School is on the same property as WHS, and still stands, too. Interesting tidbit: Last I checked, West High uses "A" on their letter jackets... for "Anchorage High School"... it wasn't "West High" until "East High" was built.

Chugiak's "new auditorium" was build at the same time as GJMS. It opened my Freshman year. 2014, last time I was there, it was kind of run-down. Serviceable, but neglected. Carpets needed replacing, walls needed painting and new curtains. Some of my very best memories from High School were on the stage there.

Spoiler:

One of my strongest memories is of many hours of JV Swing Choir practice. Especially junior year, as my dance partner for half the 1985-86 school year was the talented and charming Patricia Marlowe, later to win Miss Alaska 1994.

In no small irony, while I have many strong memories of the school, CHS has been renovated to the point that the visual triggers are now all gone. Except the inside of the auditorium.



Anyway, it looks like only three buildings are going to be condemned and replaced. Assuming that the funds to replace them can be found.

Several are hard-hat zones, but staff are being allowed in to retrieve belongings and needed teaching materials.

 

[whartung]

Anchorage's building code pretty much requires the ability to resist a magnitude 8 centered in downtown...

Code varies widely within the state... Barrow only recently (last 15 years) removed the ban on indoor plumbing... (but stopped enforcing it in the 80's.)

That's a good thing.

Outdoor plumbing. Alaska.

No.



One can argue that California's Quake codes got went to the top of the list for discussion after a quake in So Cal in the late 30's. It was notable for happening on a Saturday and causing horrific damage to a lot of schools, which were mostly made of unreinforced brick.

Had the quake happened during the week, and during school session, the casualties could have been very high indeed.

The goal of CAs quake codes is essentially to prevent outright collapse, not to "save the building" from damage. Having a condemned building after a quake with minor injuries to the occupants, is a win.

The bulk of the casualties from the Northridge quake was a single apartment complex that collapsed. The other thing that happened also was a high flying overpass collapsed, costing the life of a Highway Patrol officer. It was notable because that same exchange collapsed back during a quake in the early 70's. So, whatever they figured they did to prepare it, didn't quite work.

I don't know the specifics of what they did to this overpass when they repaired it, but after the quake, many of the overpasses (not the really high ones) were retrofitted by adding a metal (I assume iron or steal) wrapper around the pylons supporting the roads.

It seems there was a problem with the reinforced concrete pylons crumbling, and that caused them to become quite weak. The wrapper I think is supposed to keep that from happening.

 

[aramis]

That's a good thing.

Outdoor plumbing. Alaska.

No.

Barrow still uses honeybuckets instead of sewers.

http://www.north-slope.org/departme...industrial-development/wastewater-information