NEWS RELEASES
Anchorage Earthquake Destruction Goes Viral
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Chicago Sun Times' website.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Chicago Sun Times reports on the destructive earthquakes that hit Anchorage, Alaska last week. Back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.0 and 5.8 rocked buildings and shattered roads in Anchorage, triggering a warning to residents in Kodiak to flee to higher ground for fear of a tsunami. The US Geological Survey said the first and more powerful quake was centered about 7 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, with a population of about 300,000. People ran from their offices or took cover under desks.
Chicago Sun Times relays in the AP release, "Cracks could be seen in a two-story downtown Anchorage building, and photographs posted to social media showed fractured roads and collapsed ceiling tiles at an Anchorage high school. One image showed a car stranded on an island of pavement, surrounded by cavernous cracks where the earthquake split the road." A tsunami warning was issued for the southern Alaska coastal areas of Cook’s Inlet and part of the Kenai peninsula. Kodiak police on Kodiak Island warned people in the city of 6,100 to “evacuate to higher ground immediately” because of “wave estimated 10 minutes.” Alaska averages 40,000 earthquakes per year, with more large quakes than the 49 other states combined. Southern Alaska has a high risk of earthquakes because of tectonic plates sliding past each other under the region.
For further information on the unfortunate natural disaster and other related history, click here.