Alaska Earthquakes Cases

 There are so many things happening in our world that it's hard to keep up with everything that going on. One thing that not many know about are the earthquakes in Alaska. Lots of people are surprised to find out that Alaska has earthquakes. Though Alaska is actually pretty used to earthquakes. Alaska records an average of 40,000 quakes every year. Earthquakes in Alaska date all the way back to 1899.

The earthquakes happen because parts of Alaska sit of fault lines. Fault Lines is a fracture along which the crust has moved. Earthquakes are usually caused when rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When two blocks of rock or two plates are rubbing against each other, they stick a little. When the rocks break, the earthquake occurs.

Right now in Alaska they are having some major earthquakes. These earthquakes can go all the way up to 7.0 magnitude. These Earthquakes occurred on November 30, December 1, and December 4. All of these earthquakes are about 3 to 12 miles from Anchorage. These earthquakes have had a major aftermath on the roads. The damage on the roads range from large cracks to fall and caving in of the roads. More than 1,000 aftershocks have shaken Alaska since the magnitude 7.0 quake last week. While the majority of the aftershocks were measured at magnitude 2.5 or less, about 350 small earthquakes were higher than 2.5 and around a dozen registered higher than magnitude 4.5.

The original quake's core was about eight miles north of downtown Anchorage and caused structural damage to buildings and roadways. Fortunately, no deaths or injuries were caused by the quake. "There is major infrastructure damage across Anchorage," said the Anchorage Police Department. "Many homes and buildings are damaged. Many roads and bridges are closed."

After a long night of aftershocks, Randall Cavanaugh, an Anchorage attorney, told the Press, They're disturbing, and I'm not putting anything away that could fall until they calm down. I kept waking up. (www.csmonitor.com)

State seismologist Mike West called the immense tremble the "most significant" in Alaska since the Alaskan earthquake of 1964, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The Alaska earthquake of 1964 was the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history and second in the world. This strong earthquake had a magnitude of 9.2.

A city official stated that thousands of residences have no electricity right now, on the evening of November 30. Anchorage Municipal Manager Bill Falsey said on Friday, Progress was being made restoring power and utilities aren't expecting protracted outages. Falsey also said City workers were responding to reports of 28 mainline water breaks and dozens of requests to cut off residential service because of flooding. The Governor of Alaska, Bill Walker, says it will take more than a week or two to repair the damaged roads.

Walker says that he spoke with President Trump and was guaranteed by the White House that help was on the way. President Donald Trump has tweeted that the federal government "will spare no expense" helping Alaska after the high magnitude earthquakes. Trump on Friday tweeted "you have been hit hard by a 'big one'" and asked residents to follow officials' directions. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted Friday that Trump is monitoring the reports of damage.

Right now in the process of rebuilding and recovering, officials are warning residents to stay off the roads. On saturday, officials encouraged Alaskans not to go the grocery stores, saying there was no reason to stock up on food. Schools are also closed, which they said will reduce the traffic.

About 90 percent of all the goods sold in Alaska are delivered to the Port of Anchorage, where they have completed a prior destruction evaluation. "Everything looked good," said Municipal Manager Bill Falsey. "There was some structural concerns with some of the trestles. We have got some things on a watch list but nothing that should impede operations." Two large cargo companies operate at that port. One was unloading as normal on Sunday, and the other company is scheduled to carry barges on Monday after they have successfully tested their crane system.

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