EARTHQUAKE 2018

 

An Earthquake hit Alaska at 8:29 Friday (11/30/2018) morning with a magnitude of 7.0 and a depth of about 30 miles (pretty shallow). The epicenter was about 7 miles N of Anchorage which is pretty close to me. I felt like I was sitting right on top of it. My house shook for what seemed like several minutes, but according to the local news, it lasted about 30 seconds to a minute depending on where you were located. Regardless, it was horrifying! I have never been so scared. And I was by myself. Scott was in Kodiak working.

I had big plans for this day. I got up early, fixed breakfast, and was planning to head to the gym.  Then, I had a mission to get a Christmas present for Mom that day! No more putting off shopping. I was trying to wrap up a conversation (via text) so I could get moving. I was about to find out just how quick I would be moving.

The front of my house is all windows.

And this is where I was sitting when I heard this really loud noise that sounded like a freight train. I didn’t know what it was, but before I could figure it out, I felt my house starting to shake. I took off running. I felt a really hard jolt and then everything went dark. My power had just gone out as well. I did not follow the protocol of drop, cover, and hold on for obvious reasons. Thankfully, none of the windows broke!

So, typically we will  feel a mild tremor and just wait it out. And I was trying to convince myself that it’s a mild earthquake and it is going to stop any second. But, the reality was there was nothing mild about this one. I was in a doorway (not the safest either) across the house from those windows. My footing was unstable. The whole house was shaking and rumbling. It felt like a nightmare that just kept going.  When it didn’t stop right away,  I thought OMG, this house is going to slide right off the mountain!

The second it stopped shaking, all I could think about was Sonja, the kids, and Scott. My home phone is wireless (I had lost power), so I had to get the emergency analog corded phone from the closet in the back of the house. I desperately needed to get in touch with my family to make sure they were okay. I couldn’t find the phone initially. I was in a panic. Most things that were in that closet had fallen out and I had to search for the phone. Finally, I was able to talk to Sonja who was in her car in her driveway. And Tracy, who has only been in Alaska for about a week or two was in town to help with the kids while Matt was working out of town, had taken the kids to school, and she also had the baby with her.  Thankfully, they were all fine but really shaken up. Well, I guess mostly Tylor was. Tracy the adventurer thought that was “the coolest” (she obviously didn’t feel what I did) and Maddy according to Tracy was just “as mellow as a cucumber”.

Scott was over 400 miles away and was not impacted by the earthquake. But, there was a tsunami warning in effect in his area. Thankfully, that warning was lifted a couple of hours later. Looking at this satellite photo will help you understand my additional fear of a tsunami warning. He is about an hour south of Kodiak.

Right after that initial strike, we started having some pretty significant aftershocks which were just as scary. One news report said there were over 200 in the first 12 hours. I am telling you, this was the most scared I have ever been in my life. Just. Pure. Torture!

While I am talking aftershocks, this is an update as of this morning by the Anchorage Daily News

 

I am still feeling anything above a 3 with shaking and swaying of the house. These continued aftershocks are very nerve wrecking. I am so on edge! I am jumping at every little thing. Demi flopped down on the floor earlier and I took off running. PTSD?

Once, I found out everybody was okay, I got a headlamp and started looking for damage and any problems. Initially, I saw mostly just broken items and things that had fallen out of closets and off of shelves which wasn’t too horrible.

The worst mess other than the broken glass was a glass bottle of avocado oil that had broken and mixed with a broken glass jar of cinnamon onto my very porous terra-cotta tiles. That mixture was all over the floor, stove, refrigerator, and I inadvertently tracked it all over the house.

When I made it down to the garage, there was water leaking from two different pipes near the boiler. I ended up having to turn the water, boiler, and well pumps off until I could figure out (or somebody could figure out) what the problem was. So, no water, no electricity, no heat. I had a fireplace.

Yes! I could have heat. But the paranoia in me with starting a fire was that even though I didn’t smell a gas leak anywhere, I was too afraid that there could be one. And what if we had another big earthquake? The aftershocks were 4s and 5s at that time, I didn’t want to burn the house down. I wouldn’t even turn the gas stove on because I was so paranoid that I was going to blow up the house. Talk about being on edge.

The only thing I could do was to start cleaning up the mess. I didn’t have any power so no news, internet, cell…nothing. I didn’t know what was going on outside of my house as far as damage goes.

My neighbor, Kristen, called to see if I was okay. We shared our stories and she let me know that she did have a generator going so she had light.  Unlike me however,  she was using her gas heat and stove. She invited me down for a much needed glass of wine and dinner. I was so grateful! It was so nice to be around another person all of a sudden. I didn’t feel so alone. And I might mention that I was also grateful that I could get telephone access because not knowing what was happening with my family was more than I could have handled. Kristen and I kept in constant contact with each other over the next couple of days.

After dinner at Kristen’s, the power in our area came back on. Still without water, I spent the night in Anchorage at Sonja’s house. She only lost power briefly. I got there a bit late, (Sonja was working) so the only person I got to see was Tylor who got up when he heard me come in. He wanted to sleep downstairs with me, and I was way okay with that. I actually had to work the next day. I didn’t exactly want to leave my house without heat, but everybody was affected by the earthquake, so I couldn’t exactly call in. The NICU like the rest of the hospital doesn’t close for the day.

The next day, Sunday,  my friend and neighbor, Richard, was able to come over and get my water running and heat going. By that time, though, I was a little more confident that there wasn’t a gas leak so I had started a fire in the fireplace. (I shouldn’t be drinking cokes….it was a comfort thing! 🙂 ) Kristen made us all tacos….yum!

The initial water source (I have a well) was pretty disgusting! I ran the water for a while and it did clear up but still not drinkable. I wouldn’t take a bath in that either. obviously!

My other neighbors, Alex and Bridget, found out that I also (like everybody else) had contaminated water. Alex brought over more than a half a case of water along with some other goodies! So nice!!! I have the best neighbors! Even the guys that live below me (Bill and Wendy) checked on me and offered me a place to stay if I needed it. So did Kristen for that matter. So, I had a lot of support. Scott and Sonja also were in constant contact.

I would like to say that things are returning to normal, but we continue to have more aftershocks. As I was sitting here writing this post, another aftershock!!   Every single time, I go weak in the knees and my stomach just churns. I am so jumpy. I really don’t know how much more of this I can stand…..really!!

There was a lot of damage done to both Anchorage, Eagle River , and surrounding areas. Roads were damaged along with bridges that affected traffic. I have to take a detour due to a bridge (Briggs) area that is being repaired. Stores were damaged. My Carrs (grocery store) has still not opened. I lost personal items, but some people had so much damage to their homes that they had to find other places to live for now. So, as much as I was affected…yes I am going to say it….It could have been worse. And who knows what is going to happen now. The news keeps reporting that there is a 4% chance that we will have another big earthquake. Oh the stress….. hopefully they mean in about 50 years!

I won’t clutter up this post with even more pictures but you can go to these websites to view some of the destruction. There are some pretty cool photos. And there are some that I am just shaking my head….I’ll leave it at that 🙂

• https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2018/12/01/state-seismologist-emotionally-disturbing-quake-was-anchorages-most-powerful-since-1964/?fbclid=IwAR24Kwz1tDQ2c_TTFvnPKHOkTTxTovjNYNcxZqRlFdTKZPeqApVFOMdMg0c
• And aerial photos provided by the Anchorage Daily News! 

Plus many others, just look up Anchorage earthquake 11/30/2018 if you are interested in reading more.

But I will post some of my favorite memes 🙂

This next one is so me! I am feeling aftershocks that I am not sure are even there. Sometimes I check the Earthquake Center just to see if one just happened or if I am losing my mind!

My guesses have been all wrong but I am getting better at it. Whose running the aftershock betting pool?? Is there an app for that?

I will keep you all posted on any new events. Just FYI, Demi is fine too.  I found her upstairs in the back closet after the earthquake. She was soooo scared. She’s doing good now though.

Thanks to all of my family and friends who have contacted me and provided support. Your calls, messages, and texts meant so much to me. So much Love!!