But, he said it was too soon to say exactly what went on. Snider said he’d heard of people in Anchorage and the Mat-Su who had gotten the alert that shouldn’t have. But Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator for the Tsunami Warning Center based in Palmer, said the state’s most populous city was never under a warning. In Anchorage, at least some residents received loud phone alerts announcing tsunami danger nearby. Tsunami notifications in Anchorage? Again? Plus, the earthquake was some 20 miles underground, while more damaging earthquakes are closer to the surface and can in turn produce a bigger wave. First off, magnitude increases exponentially, meaning the difference between an 8.2 and a 9.2 is quite vast. There are multiple reasons why the earthquake Wednesday didn’t produce the same sort of devastating wave that the 1964 earthquake did, Holtkamp said. The 7.8 earthquake in July 2020 occurred just west of the 2021 event and probably increased the stress on the fault, which means last summer’s event may have prompted the Wednesday event to happen now rather than in 50 years. Wednesday’s earthquake was the nation’s largest in over 50 years, after Alaska’s magnitude 8.7 earthquake at Rat Islands and the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, which was a magnitude 9.2 said Stephen Holtkamp, a seismologist with the Alaska Earthquake Center.īut that doesn’t mean Wednesday night’s earthquake was unexpected, he said. Why didn’t this one cause waves like 1964? Previous earthquake damage was exaggerated along joints and cracks at the Kodiak Fire Station, but that was about the extent of reported damage in the city according to emergency management officials there. But last year’s earthquake, a magnitude 7.8 roughly 65 miles south of Perryville, felt more like being shaken up in a snow globe, she said. The shaking felt like being in a boat in choppy weather and lasted for quite a while, said Tina Anderson, Aleutians East Borough clerk in Sand Point. Residents were “definitely still cleaning stuff off the floor,” he said. He hadn’t found much, apart from some porches and small buildings off kilter. “You definitely saw fear and disbelief in their faces,” Kosbruk said Thursday morning, as he and other community members checked for damage. Many reported falling down in the shaking before they left home. They watched the quake trigger debris-slinging rockslides on nearby islands. In Perryville, population about 100 and about 56 miles from the epicenter, most of the community ended up at the tsunami shelter Wednesday night, said Gerald Kosbruk, council chair for the Native Village of Perryville. The tsunami warning for much of Alaska's southern coast was canceled when the biggest wave, of just over a half foot, was recorded in Old Harbor. “It’s really a miracle.”Ī line of cars evacuates the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska on July 28, 2021, after a tsunami warning was issued following a magnitude 8.2 earthquake. “But to not have roads collapse, not have a damaging wave from the tsunami that was generated was just incredible,” Fisher said. Given how long the ground shook, up to two minutes in some places, they expected to have broken glasses or plates and items thrown out of pantries and refrigerators. He has been with the agency for 26 years, and said this was the largest quake he has experienced. But so far, so good,” Bryan Fisher, director of the state homeland security division told the Associated Press. “You could imagine if that earthquake happened in Anchorage or in Los Angeles the damage that would have occurred and the loss of life and injury and property damage and all of that. There may be some damage that is not yet apparent, but no one had reported significant damage by Thursday, he said. Tsunami warnings were called off under two hours later, after Unalaska to Homer, Kodiak and Seward moved to higher ground.Ī spokesman for the state’s emergency management agency said the department hadn’t received any requests for emergency assistance by Thursday afternoon, and had only received reports of minimal damage like buckling or collapse of small sheds or steam baths, said Jeremy Zidek, with the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. hQ93k7HVUZ- Alaska Earthquake Center July 29, 2021 The map here shows 2020 in gray and the recent aftershocks in red. The locations and magnitudes are subject to change upon further review, but look to be occurring to the east of 2020 sequence. As of 12 hours following the M8.2 we've located ~140 aftershocks.
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