Alaskans shaken by quake

Anchorage residents feel 7.1 tremor, but no one injured

Boxes of cereal and bottles of juice lie on the floor of a Safeway grocery store Sunday after a magnitude- 7.1 earthquake on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska.
Boxes of cereal and bottles of juice lie on the floor of a Safeway grocery store Sunday after a magnitude- 7.1 earthquake on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A magnitude-7.1 earthquake knocked items off shelves and walls in Alaska early Sunday morning, but no one was injured and there was little damage reported.

Alaska's state seismologist, Michael West, called it the strongest earthquake in the state's south-central region in decades. The state often has larger or more powerful earthquakes, such as a 7.9 last year in the remote Aleutian Islands.

"However, last night's earthquake is significant because it was close enough to Alaskan's population centers," West said, adding that aftershocks could continue for weeks.

The earthquake was widely felt by Anchorage residents. But the Anchorage and Valdez police departments said they hadn't received any reports of injury or significant damage.

The earthquake struck about 1:30 a.m. Alaska time and was centered 53 miles west of Anchor Point in the Kenai Peninsula, about 160 miles southwest of Anchorage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Four houses were destroyed by fire and an entire neighborhood was evacuated after a gas leak was reported, Kenai Police Chief Gus Sandahl said Sunday morning. Crews were "definitely still trying to resolve the gas issue," he said nearly eight hours after the earthquake.

Kenai Fire Department battalion chief Tony Prior said explosions from a natural gas leak destroyed two of the houses. The other two were fully engulfed in flames by the time firefighters determined it was safe enough from gas for them to enter. The fire department focused on keeping the fires from spreading to nearby houses.

The USGS initially reported it as a magnitude-7.1, but downgraded shortly after to magnitude-6.8 before raising it back to 7.1.

"Some earthquakes have challenges associated with them. They are unusual or hard to monitor," West said. "This is neither of them. Southern Alaska is well instrumented, and this earthquake is of the style and type that we would expect in this area."

The biggest aftershock Sunday was 4.7, and West said a magnitude-5 or magnitude-6 aftershock is possible.

There were reports of scattered power failures from the Matanuska Electric Association and Chugach Electric in the Anchorage area. The Homer Electric Association reported on its website that about 4,800 customers were without power early Sunday in the Kenai Peninsula.

The Alaska Department of Transportation reported on its Facebook page that there was road damage near the community of Kasilof, on the Kenai Peninsula.

A shelter was set up at the Kenai Armory for those evacuating their homes, and Sandahl said there were about 20 people there.

Vincent Nusunginya, 34, of Kenai said he was at his girlfriend's house when the earthquake hit.

"It started out as a shaking and it seemed very much like a normal earthquake. But then it started to feel like a normal swaying, like a very smooth side-to-side swaying," said Nusunginya, director of audience at the Peninsula Clarion newspaper. "It was unsettling. Some things got knocked over, but there was no damage."

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker said in a statement Sunday that he was relieved there wasn't more damage. He urged all Alaskans to have a response plan for when a major natural disaster takes place.

The hashtag #akquake trended early Sunday on Twitter as people shared their experiences and posted photos of items that had fallen off walls and shelves.

Andrea Conter, 50, of Anchorage said she was surprised by the quake's strength.

"This was a wild one," the former Southern California resident said. "I looked at the closed-circuit cameras at work and it lasted over 50 seconds, and that is considerable for an earthquake.

"When I bought my house in Anchorage I had a geological map that shows what are the sturdiest parts of town and there were a few where I said, 'If there's an earthquake, that house is toast,'" Conter said. "That's how I chose my house. Literally. Drove my real estate agent nuts. But I didn't have one thing fall in my house. It was kind of clutch."

Andrew Sayers, 26, of Kasilof was watching television when the quake struck.

"The house started to shake violently. The TV we were watching fell over, stuff fell off the walls," he said. "Dishes were crashing, and we sprinted toward the doorway."

Later, he was driving to his mother's home when he came across a stretch of road that was damaged in the quake.

"We launched over this crack in the road. It's a miracle we didn't bust our tires on it," he said.

After reaching his mother's house, Sayers checked on his grandparents, who live about a mile away.

"No damage, except their Christmas tree fell over," he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Rashah McChesney, Michelle A. Monroe and Tarek Hamada of The Associated Press.

A Section on 01/25/2016

Upcoming Events