Sunday morning quake largest of its kind ever recorded in Cook Inlet

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.adn.com/article/20160124/sunday-s-quake-largest-its-kind-ever-recorded-cook-inlet

Sunday morning’s magnitude-7.1 earthquake is the strongest of its kind ever recorded in the Cook Inlet area, according to Alaska-based seismologists.

Sara Meyer, a research technician with the Alaska Earthquake Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, said Sunday morning that an initial magnitude of 6.8 was revised upward shortly after the 1:30 a.m. temblor to the figure reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. Numerous aftershocks were still being recorded Sunday morning.

“Our official magnitude that we’re reporting is 7.1, and that’s in agreement with USGS and the National Tsunami Warning Center,” Meyer said.

Meyer said the tectonic cause of the quake, recorded at a depth of 76 miles, was the Pacific Plate of the Earth’s crust sliding beneath the North American Plate.

“This is actually the largest intermediate-depth earthquake in the Cook Inlet that we’ve seen since we set up equipment in the 1960s,” Meyer said.

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I'm still laughing (sort of) at CNN originally reporting "weak" shaking in nearby towns. The pictures coming from the Kenai Peninsula put the lie to that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. You ok?

I got the USGS report in my email box, but had little to put it in context, beyond the 7.1 is not precisely weak.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Yes, we're fine.

The full-length mirror in the bedroom fell off the wall and shattered, pictures askew, some drawers that opened up, but nothing major. My brother, who lives in Homer, directly across the Inlet from the epicenter, had a lot of stuff fall out of his cupboards and off the wall, but they're okay, too. The Kenai area seems to have the most damage, buckled roads, broken gas lines, a couple of house fires, power out. It's just lucky for us that earthquakes are common here and our infrastructure is generally ready. A quake this size in a third-world country with more people would have caused a far worse outcome.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Well I know in Mexico City we used to laugh these 7.1

it took the 8.1 or 8.3, depends who you read, I am not kidding, that lasted 90 seconds to do a number on Mexico City.

Though the last large one, 7.9, buckled a metro line