Powerful earthquakes rocked Alaska’s largest city on Friday morning, causing extensive damage to roads and buildings and briefly triggered a tsunami warning that left residents fleeing.
At 8:29 a.m. local time, a 7.0 earthquake hit the Anchorage area at a depth of 25 miles, theUnited States Geological Societyreported, with a magnitude 5.8 aftershock occurring just six minutes later. More than9,000 power outageswere recorded throughout the region in the hours following the dual quakes.
“There is major infrastructure damage across Anchorage,” the Anchorage Police Department said in a statement, according toNBC News.“Many homes and buildings are damaged. Many roads and bridges are closed. Stay off the roads if you don’t need to drive. Seek a safe shelter. Check on your surroundings and loved ones.”
Minnesota Drive Expressway in Anchorage.Dan Joling/AP/Shutterstock
“It was absolutely terrifying,” Kristin Dossett, who lives in the city of Palmer, toldCNN. “It shook like I have never felt anything shake before.”
She continued: “It just didn’t stop… It kept going and got louder and louder, and things just fell everywhere — everything off my dressers, off my bookcases, my kitchen cupboard. Just broken glass everywhere.”
Mike Dinneen/AP/Shutterstock
In a tweet,Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, said her family was safe, but said her home had experienced damage during the quake.
“[Pray] for Alaska. Our family is intact – house is not… I imagine that’s the case for many, many others,” Palin wrote. “So thankful to be safe; praying for our state following the earthquake.”
Palin, 54, later posteda videothat showed dozens of shattered dishes around the kitchen of her parents’ home.
“My parents home in Wasilla is usually in tip top shape,” she wrote. “Here it is this morning following the earthquake. The video doesn’t begin to show the scope.”
Though the Alaska Regional and Providence Alaska Medical Center had been damaged, both facilities kept their emergency rooms open for residents,CNNreported.
The Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage had been turned into a shelter for people who could not immediately return home due to damaged roadways. One such picture documenting the damage showed a lone SUV along a completely collapsed section of the Minnesota Drive Expressway in Anchorage.
A tsunami warning was issued shortly after the earthquake struck but was later canceled. State officials advised residents to remain cautious in the face of continued aftershocks.
Shelves came unbolted from a wall of the stockroom of Anchorage True Value Hardware.Mike Dinneen/AP/Shutterstock
“Right now, we’re asking people to drop, cover and hold on when they feel earthquakes,” Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for Alaska’s state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, told theWashington Post.
Shortly after the earthquake, White House press secretary Sarah SanderstweetedthatPresident Donald Trumphas been made aware of the destruction in Alaska as he attends the G-20 Summit in Argentina.
“The President has been briefed on the earthquake near Anchorage, Alaska, and is monitoring damage reports,” Sanders wrote. “We are praying for the safety of all Alaskans!”
source: people.com
