Seward, Alaska
Early this morning at 1:30
am, a 7.1 earthquake shook south-central Alaska. Startled out of a sound sleep,
I listened and waited in awe and apprehension as my bed rocked me back and
forth and the house rattled. I felt very small indeed riding this seismic wave
as the earth shook. The intensity increased, then diminished and faded away.
Whew!
I hopped out of bed and
checked the house. Incredibly, only a few things had fallen, and nothing of
significance was damaged. It was reassuring that the emergency alert sirens
were silent and the power remained on, an illusion of normality. And so I went
back to bed and missed some rather large aftershocks.
The USGS and National Tsunami
Warning Center reported the tectonic quake at a depth of 76 miles on the west
side of Cook Inlet, 65 miles west of Homer and just north of Mt Augustine. It
was the largest intermediate depth earthquake ever recorded in Cook Inlet since
recording began in the 1960s. No tsunami was generated.
The Alaska Dispatch News at adn.com
posted many stories about this.
I wonder how the birds
responded in the dark of night. Did they cling ever tighter to their perches,
or fly blindly away? By daybreak, life seemed to continue as usual, as it must.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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