I Feel the Earth Move (Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake in the Aleutians)

We were shaken awake by a 7.0 earthquake this morning at around 7:25 HAST.

At first, I thought Ivan was trying to shake me awake and grumbled at him to stop... then I remembered he had already left for school. Even though it was a big one, it only lasted about a minute until it subsided into a gentle rocking motion thanks to the rollers under our house.

Anyway, off to school but I thought I'd share this very effective morning wake-up call.

Holy Earthquake, Batman - Magnitude 6.9

Yeah, we felt that one.

(Screen shot from USGS)

6.9

33km S of Tanaga Volcano, Alaska

2012-09-26 23:39:58

51.583°N

178.200°W

40.5

The devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake was a 7.0-- not much more than this one. It went on for at least 30 seconds. The whole house was shaking, drawers were rattling, and you could hear and see the earth moving outside. I'm listening for the tsunami siren, but not hearing anything. Everything is built to be very seismically safe; as far as I can tell, there was no damage. Does seem that the phones are out, though the internet is chugging along just fine.

The island is a pretty seismic place-- ring of fire and all that. There are minor (< 3.0) earthquakes almost daily, and we had a 4.3 the other day that was definitely noticeable. The screenshot above (from the Alaska Earthquake Information Center) shows that one, and also how seismic Alaska is in general. Just another part of life out here in the Aleutians.