Kindgo
Advanced Member
Member # 2
|
posted
Sunday, November 03, 2002
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A major earthquake rocked a sparsely populated area of interior Alaska on Sunday, knocking over fuel tanks, damaging highways and shaking rural homes.
The magnitude 7.9 quake, centered 90 miles south of Fairbanks, was strongly felt in Anchorage about 270 miles to the south. It hit at 1:13 p.m Alaska Standard Time, said Bruce Turner of Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
"It shook for a good 30 seconds," he said. It did not generate a tsunami, he said.
The earthquake occurred on the Denali Fault and had a shallow depth, said John Lahr, geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. Shallow earthquakes generally are felt over a wider area.
"We expected this would have surface rupture that geologists could see on the ground and study," he said.
KCAM-radio in Glennallen reported that fuel tanks in the village of Slana were tipped over and nearby highways were damaged.
Paul Whitmore of tsunami warning center said the highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks was damaged and Alaska State Troopers closed the road to one lane.
Jill Woster said she was driving between Fairbanks and her home in North Pole when the quake began.
"The car felt like it was going to fall apart," she said. Woster arrived home to find pictures off the walls and on the floor, along with glassware.
Earthquakes above magnitude 7 are considered major — capable of widespread, heavy damage.
The "Good Friday" earthquake in Alaska that left 131 people dead in 1964 measured 8.5 on Richter scale. Current measures put the magnitude at 9.2.
A moderate earthquake shook the central Plains earlier Sunday. The 4.3 quake hit about 2:45 p.m., some 30 miles northwest of O'Neill, Neb., the geological survey said.
©Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 Standard & Poor's
FOX News Network, LLC 2002. All rights reserved.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,68898,00.html
--------------------
God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged | 
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
