Back-to-back earthquakes struck Alaska near Anchorage on Friday, damaging buildings, knocking out power and triggering tsunami warnings as residents ran into the streets, according to reports.
The US Geological Survey said the first and more powerful temblor – measuring a 7.0 magnitude — was centered about 7 miles north of Anchorage, the state’s largest city, with a population of about 300,000.
The epicenter was just north of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
People ran from their offices or took cover under desks and beneath door jambs. There were no immediate reports of any deaths or serious injuries. A second quake struck later, measuring 5.8.
Former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin tweeted, saying her family “is intact — house is not.”
“I imagine that’s the case for many, many others. So thankful to be safe; praying for our state following the earthquake,” she wrote.
Officials in Alaska’s island community of Kodiak, about 250 miles south of Anchorage, said residents headed to higher ground because of the tsunami warning, which was canceled at 10 a.m. local time, about an hour and a half after the quake hit.
Tsunami warnings also were issued for the southern Alaska coastal areas of Cook’s Inlet and part of the Kenai peninsula.
President Trump sent a tweet “to the Great people of Alaska.”
“You have been hit hard by a ‘big one.’ Please follow the directions of the highly trained professionals who are there to help you. Your Federal Government will spare no expense. God Bless you ALL!”
In Kenai, north of Anchorage, Brandon Slaton was soaking in his bathtub when the earthquake struck. The 209-pound-man said he was thrown out of the tub.
His 120-pound mastiff panicked and tried to run down the stairs, but was thrown off its feet and into a wall, tumbling to the bottom of the stairs, Slaton said.
Slaton ran into his son’s room and found his aquarium shattered and the fish on the floor, gasping for air. He grabbed it and put it in another bowl.
“It was anarchy,” he said. “There’s no pictures left on the walls, there’s no power, there’s no fish tank left. Everything that’s not tied down is broke.”
Nat Herz, a reporter with Alaska’s Energy Desk, posted on Twitter: “Everyone just sprinted out of the coffee shop I was at in Anchorage in the middle of a huge earthquake.”
He added: “Car alarms going off, etc. But not seeing any serious damage here aside from random stuff falling over. People going back to computers, meetings.”
The Anchorage Daily News said the quake caused damage at the paper, cracking walls and damaging ceiling panels.
Cracks could be seen in a two-story downtown Anchorage building, and images posted to social media showed damaged roads and collapsed ceiling tiles at an Anchorage school.
Josh Bierna posted a video on Twitter along with the caption: “This earthquake straight cracked my school in half.”
A photo showed a car stranded on an island of pavement, surrounded by huge cracks where the quake split the road.
David Harper was getting coffee at a store when he heard what sounded “like the building was just going to fall apart.”
“The main thought that was going through my head as I was trying to get out the door was, ‘I want this to stop,'” he said.
Harper said the quake was “significant enough that the people who were outside were actively hugging each other. You could tell that it was a bad one.”
With Post wires
