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The city announced that regular bus service would resume the following day, and would be free of charge for the two days following the earthquake to help city residents get around on damaged roads. DOT&PF Maintenance and Construction crews are actively working the eight major damage sites . Earthquake aftershocks are continuing to contribute to settling and additional cracking. Hydrogeologic responses to earthquakes have been known for decades, and have occurred both close to, and thousands of miles away from earthquake epicenters. When earthquakes do occur, rapid reporting allows the public and emergency managers to assess the potential impacts.
We will minimize haul times by using the closest available asphalt plant as much as possible. We can add chemicals to the asphalt that will allow it to be compacted at lower temperatures than usual, which will give us more time to compact. Weather predictions are not favorable so please take extra precautions when traveling the roadways. Many times, in an emergency, we need to reach you during off-hours.
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Some suffered broken bones, and one resident suffered serious smoke inhalation while trying to put out a post-quake fire at his home. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District reported that all students were safe. The site of major road damage on Vine Road in Wasilla, Alaska, was crawling with local residents on Sunday eager to see the most dramatic earthquake damage. Thank you for being patient with us during this time as our crews continue to evaluate the damage across the state.
To request permits, or for any MSCVE relation inquiries, please email The map below shows the locations of damage to DOT&PF highways . Some of these damaged locations have already been repaired and some are scheduled to be repaired in the future. All bridges have been inspected by DOT&PF engineers and have been determined safe for travel. The Alaska Earthquake Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is a regional seismic network that participates in the USGS Advanced National Seismic System. AEC contributes seismic monitoring data and conducts analyses that are used in characterizing the 2018 Anchorage earthquake and its aftershocks.
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Hundreds gathered in local schools, which were opened as evacuation shelters, in Kodiak, Seward, and Homer. Evacuees seeking higher ground filled local roads and the parking lots of supermarkets, while locals reported large numbers of evacuees parking near a wind farm on Pillar Mountain near Kodiak. An unrelated power outage at the Alaska Earthquake Center in Fairbanks caused some alerts to be delayed, while its website was overwhelmed by the number of users. The National Weather Service sent emergency alerts to cell phones in Alaska, reading, "Emergency Alert. Tsunami danger on the coast. Go to high ground or move inland."
The Alaska mainland is crosscut by numerous fault systems that accommodate this compression and shearing. In the popular cruise-ship town of Seward, about 110 miles south of Anchorage, Fire Chief Eddie Athey said the quake felt like a gentle rattle that lasted for up to 90 seconds. By the time customers started arriving, the excitement had passed and people just sat around quietly eating their meals, speaking little of the quake. In the nearby Matanuska-Susitna Borough, multiple roads were closed, collapsed and cracked. Two of the city’s main hospitals were damaged, but their emergency rooms remained open.
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All sport practices and events originally scheduled for Friday were canceled, including a complimentary performance of the Homer Nutcracker Ballet for families and others. All afternoon classes for Title 1, preschool and special education preschool were also cancelled Friday. Once they realized the power was out and the conference was canceled, Spencer said he and Rieske decided there was no reason to stick around. Coincidentally, he said members of NOAA were also in attendance at the conference, and were able to let everyone know they were safe from a tsunami at their location. Someone shouted for everyone to get out, so Spencer and Rieske exited the café.
Despite the obliquity of convergence, active volcanism and megathrust earthquakes are also present along this margin. The newsroom studio of KTVA in Anchorage was heavily damaged, but the channel remained on the air. The Alaska Airlines Center, a large sports complex on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus, flooded due to broken fire sprinkler pipes. UAA's older Wells Fargo Sports Complex suffered similar damage. In South Anchorage, Dimond High School had ceiling tiles and other debris littering the floor throughout the campus.
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Use caution and follow traffic signs to and from the airport. The upper arrivals ramp and lower departures ramp are closed. Drivers should follow detour signage for drop offs and pickups at the taxi and shuttle bus queues. This area has limited space, and drivers are encouraged to use the cell phone lot, and parking garage. Please check 511.alaska.gov for updates on all other highways.
The central Aleutian arc extends from the Andreanof Islands in the east to the Rat Islands in the west. Here, motion is characterized by westward-increasing oblique convergence and Pacific plate subduction beneath thin oceanic lithosphere. Along this portion of the arc, the Wadati-Benioff zone is well defined to depths of approximately 200 km.
Most of these earthquakes—and all major earthquakes—can be traced to the movement of tectonic plates. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities moved quickly to inspect bridges and begin road repairs. Despite not normally paving during winter, area asphalt plants were restarted and within days sufficient repairs were made to reopen several heavily damaged roads. The first major aftershocks occurred 20 minutes after the earthquake.
A fault dipping at 29° towards the east gives the best match to the observed seismic waveforms. The depth and mechanism are consistent with faulting within the down-going Pacific Plate. This implies that the earthquake was an intraslab earthquake within that plate, rather than at the plate boundary between the Pacific and North American Plates beneath the Anchorage area.
The Palmer exit at the Glenn/Parks interchange is now OPEN to one lane of traffic. We still advise you to avoid the area if possible and only travel if it is absolutely necessary. Every time a new bridge is constructed or an old one is worked on, the bridge is inspected by highly trained engineers, including experts in seismic design. In extreme cases, bridge inspectors can close a bridge to ensure your safety. Every single one of our bridges is inspected by bridge engineers at least every two years. They identify problems, if there are any, and repairs are prioritized and scheduled.
The Earthquake Center detects an earthquake every fifteen minutes, on average. In 2018, we reported an all-time high of over 54,000 earthquakes in Alaska. As our monitoring network improves, we report more earthquakes because we are able to detect smaller earthquakes across more of the state.
A tsunami warning was initially activated for the Cook Inlet area and Southern Kenai Peninsula, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but it was lifted about 90 minutes after the initial shock. The Volcano Observatory combines these with other observations, including geology, satellite imagery, ground deformation and local observations to assess volcano hazards. The vigor of these faults, and our knowledge of them, generally decreases toward the north, although the impact of this compression can be traced all the way into the Arctic Ocean. Meanwhile, this northwest motion of the Pacific Plate exerts tremendous force on Alaska, compressing the land in a north-south direction and shearing or tugging southern Alaska to the west.
Residents of Anchorage, Alaska, had barely had begun their workday when the ground began violently shaking Friday. But he also deeply enjoys life in his coastal town, he said; he can kite-ski, kayak, surf, hike. He particularly enjoys long rides along scenic Alaska highways on his motorcycle. The Anchorage fire chief, Jodie Hettrick, urged residents who had experienced any anxiety or trouble sleeping after the quake to pursue mental health services. Aftershocks on Friday night in particular kept many people awake. Alaska became a state in 1959, but it remains deeply misunderstood by many Americans who have never lived there.
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