Posted on 12/01/2018 10:02:54 AM PST by Morgana
FULL TITLE: The power of Alaska's earthquake: Dramatic aerial images show devastated roads cracked by the two earthquakes that rocked the state and sparked a tsunami warning
Shocking aerial images of shown the devastating impact the earthquakes in Alaska had on the roads and landscape.
The tremors that struck the state on early Friday morning decimated stretches of road, and made them impassible,
Back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.0 and 5.7 also rocked buildings Friday in Anchorage and the surrounding area, sending people running into the streets and briefly triggering a tsunami warning for islands and coastal areas south of the city.
No tsunami arrived and there were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries.
The U.S. 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. The 5.7 aftershock arrived within minutes, followed by a series of smaller quakes.
'We just hung onto each other. You couldn't even stand,' said Sheila Bailey, who was working at a high school cafeteria in Palmer when the quake struck. 'It sounded and felt like the school was breaking apart.'
A large section of an off-ramp near the Anchorage airport collapsed, marooning a car on a narrow island of pavement surrounded by deep chasms in the concrete. Several cars crashed at a major intersection in Wasilla, north of Anchorage, during the shaking.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Thanks, KC!
I have friends there, and they checked in almost as soon as the first rumble was over. The photos are absolutely astonishing.
Prayers for all affected.
I’m not a civil engineer, but upon examination of theses overhead pics, it appears the portions of earth that gave way were not sufficiently compacted and reinforced to support the elevated road structure.?
Odds are very good that at least a dozen sexual harassment suits will be filed..
Alcoholics and other welfare recipients hardest hit:
Liquefaction is a terrible thing
“I wonder how they got it over the big gaps.”
My guess is after a conversation to the insurance adjuster and some photos, they just dragged it with the cable.
I was 10 in 1964; don’t think we felt the quake here in SE WA, but the Seattle (Nisqually) quake of 2001 (6.8) definitely was felt here and cracked our driveway although epicenter was 200+ miles away. Really amazing about the water tables.
Are you SURE you're not a civil engineer?
Wasn’t the 9.2 in ‘64 upgraded to a 9.8 a few years ago?
I was thinking more like some of the roads around San Francisco. (But at least we'll have our choo-choo to nowhere)
“marooning a car on a narrow island of pavement surrounded by deep chasms in the concrete.”
My aunt’s friend worked at the Fourth Avenue Theater then, and was just leaving or going to work. When it hit, one side of Fourth Avenue sank. She and others were helping people on the sunken side back up on to the pavement.
They had no water except for what was brought in on trucks, so forever after my aunt would finish a bottle of Clorox, rinse it out, fill it with water, and stash it away. Then she’d replace with fresh water twice a year.
In the ‘80s, I belonged to a health club in the basement of the Captain Cook Hotel. Then one day it occurred to me that the hotel sits right on the fault, and I was in a basement. I cancelled my membership the very same day. Creeped me out.
thanks for link Pontiac
That makes sense. I was thinking they’d want to avoid damaging the undercarriage but better to repair it than lose the whole vehicle..
We were just north of the Northridge epicenter. My husband had to get our large shovel to shovel out the entire contents of our kitchen. Everything breakable in the cabinets was broken and on the floor. The pictures in this story of the grocery store damage are almost laughable. Northridge was two 6.8’s, back to back. In between the two, we were able to get our young son into our bedroom, where we all held onto each other for dear life. I have never been so frightened. Luckily our house didn’t suffer structural damage, but our son’s 1st grade teacher lost her house. It cracked in two.
This car is going to end up at auction in Tennessee. No one is fixing anything.
It looks like most buildings held up pretty well. Stuff on the floor is no big deal, but structural damage from broken water pipes is.
I’m very glad most folks faired well. That house near the cliff needs to be moved backwards a bit, me thinks!
No no no. Michigan has the worst roads.
Thanks for making my point. Within the first hours of the AK EQ I was dubious of the reports. Then all the news began broadcasting the same images, taken at deceptive angles. The posted aerial shots today outline the isolated nature of the damage, limited to liquefaction of fill, and exposing the deceptive nature of the prior imagery.
Glad you were all safe at Northridge.
I’ve heard other hair-raising stories about Northridge as well. It’s all about geology. A 7 in SF would have resulted in damage on a massive scale.
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