Over 1,000 Aftershocks Shake Alaska After 7.0 Earthquake that Struck Anchorage
More than 1,000 aftershocks have shaken Alaska since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rocked the state Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
While the majority of the aftershocks were measured at magnitude 2.5 or less, about 350 small earthquakes were higher than 2.5 and around a dozen registered higher than magnitude 4.5.
The original quake’s epicenter was about eight miles north of downtown Anchorage and caused structural damage to buildings and buckled roadways. Fortunately, no deaths or injuries were caused by the quake.
“There is major infrastructure damage across Anchorage,” said the Anchorage Police Department. “Many homes and buildings are damaged. Many roads and bridges are closed.”
After a long night of aftershocks, Randall Cavanaugh, an Anchorage attorney, told the Associated Press: “They’re disturbing, and I’m not putting anything away that could fall until they calm down. I kept waking up.”
This is another ground motion visualization showing the motion of the ground recorded by the USArray during the Anchorage earthquake (https://t.co/RIcNz4bgWq). #AnchorageEarthquake #earthquake pic.twitter.com/5ZbzvXOj5l
— IRIS Earthquake Sci (@IRIS_EPO) December 1, 2018
State seismologist Mike West called the massive tremor the “most significant” to rock Alaska since the one in 1964, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The 1964 earthquake was the most powerful quake recorded in U.S. history and the second most powerful recorded on Earth at magnitude 9.2. Chile’s magnitude 9.5 quake in 1960 is the largest ever recorded, according to the USGS.
Alaska records an average of 40,000 quakes every year, including more large tremors than the other 49 states combined.
Anchorage is Alaska’s most populous city with about 300,000 residents, more than 40 percent of the state’s total population.
Drew MacFarlane
weather.com
