Alaska earthquake coverage with KIRO 7 crew in Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — UPDATE, DEC. 1:

KIRO 7 reporter Graham Johnson is the only local reporter who traveled to Anchorage after the earthquake. You can watch his stories from 5 and 6:30 p.m. below, and read his latest article here.

Graham also will be reporting for KIRO 7 News at 5 and 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Chris Riekena was driving his 7-year-old son to school when his car started acting up. As he pulled over, he realized the problem wasn't his car - it was a huge earthquake.

Riekena turned around to calm his son in the back seat and when he looked forward again, the road ahead of him was sinking into the earth. He pulled his son out of the car as light poles along the road swayed.

By the time the shaking stopped Friday, the car just in front of his on the freeway was marooned on an island of asphalt with a huge chasm on both sides.

"It was probably a good 30 to 40 seconds of slow-motion disaster," said Riekena, an engineer with the Alaska Department of Transportation who later returned to the site for his job.

"Thankfully I pulled over when I did," he said. "I've walked around the site enough over the last few hours that I've replayed that a few times."

Back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.0 and 5.7 cracked highways and rocked buildings Friday in Anchorage and the surrounding area, sending people running into the streets and briefly triggering a tsunami warning for islands and coastal areas south of the city.

No tsunami arrived, and there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries.

KIRO 7 reporter Graham Johnson took the first flight to Anchorage on Friday and will have live reports today -- including the latest damage video and reaction from people who felt the earthquake -- at 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on KIRO 7 News.

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Aftershocks Saturday continued to fray nerves. U.S. Geological Survey Geophysicist Paul Caruso said there have been 545 aftershocks, including the 5.7 magnitude shaker that came almost immediately after Friday's big quake. Eleven have had magnitudes of 4.5 or greater.

The aftershocks should be weaker and less frequent in the coming days, but officials can't say for sure when they'll stop, Caruso said.

The USGS said the first and more powerful quake was centered about 7 miles (12 kilometers) north of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, with a population of about 300,000. People ran from their offices or took cover under desks. The 5.7 aftershock arrived within minutes, followed by a series of smaller quakes.

"We just hung onto each other. You couldn't even stand," said Sheila Bailey, who was working at a high school cafeteria in Palmer, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) from Anchorage, when the quake struck. "It sounded and felt like the school was breaking apart."

Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll said he had been told that parts of Glenn Highway, a scenic route that runs northeast out of the city past farms, mountains and glaciers, had "completely disappeared."

The quake broke store windows, knocked items off shelves, opened cracks in a two-story building downtown, disrupted electrical service and disabled traffic lights, snarling traffic.

Flights at the airport were suspended for hours after the quake knocked out telephones and forced the evacuation of the control tower. And the 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) Alaska oil pipeline was shut down for hours while crews were sent to inspect it for damage.

Anchorage's school system canceled classes and asked parents to pick up their children while it examined buildings for gas leaks or other damage.

Jonathan Lettow was waiting with his 5-year-old daughter and other children for a school bus near their home in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Anchorage, when the quake struck. The children got on the ground in a circle while Lettow tried to keep them calm and watched for falling trees.

"It's one of those things where in your head, you think, 'OK, it's going to stop,' and you say that to yourself so many times in your head that finally you think, 'OK, maybe this isn't going to stop,'" he said.

Soon after the shaking ended, the school bus pulled up and the children boarded, but the driver stopped at a bridge and refused to go across because of deep cracks in the road, he said.

Gov. Bill Walker issued a disaster declaration. And President Donald Trump late Friday declared an emergency, which allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

In Kenai, southwest of Anchorage, Brandon Slaton was soaking in his bathtub when the earthquake struck. The temblor created a powerful back-and-forth sloshing that threw him out of the tub, he said.

His 120-pound (55-kilogram) mastiff panicked and tried to run down the stairs, but the house was swaying so much that the dog was thrown into a wall and tumbled down the stairs, Slaton said.

Slaton ran into his son's room after the shaking stopped. The boy's fish was on the floor, gasping, its tank shattered. Slaton put the fish in a bowl.

"It was anarchy," he said. "There's no pictures left on the walls, there's no power, there's no fish tank left. Everything that's not tied down is broke."

Alaska was the site of the nation's most powerful earthquake ever recorded. The 9.2-magnitude quake on March 27, 1964, was centered about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Anchorage. It and the tsunami it triggered claimed about 130 lives.

The state averages 40,000 earthquakes a year, with more large quakes than the 49 other states combined. Southern Alaska has a high risk of earthquakes because the Earth's plates slide past each other under the region, but it is rare for a quake this big to strike so close to such a heavily populated area.

David Harper was getting coffee at a store when the low rumble began and intensified into something that sounded "like the building was just going to fall apart." He ran for the exit with other patrons.

"People who were outside were actively hugging each other," he said. "You could tell that it was a bad one."

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Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Mark Thiessen in Anchorage; Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu; Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington; and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

ORIGINAL TEXT, FRIDAY, NOV. 30: Back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.0 and 5.8 rocked buildings and shattered roads Friday morning in Anchorage, sending people running into the streets and briefly triggering a warning to residents in Kodiak to flee to higher ground for fear of a tsunami.

>>PHOTOS: Damage from Anchorage earthquake

The tsunami warning was lifted without incident a short time later. There were no immediate reports of any deaths or serious injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the first and more powerful quake was centered about 7 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, with a population of about 300,000. People ran from their offices or took cover under desks.

Cracks could be seen in a two-story downtown Anchorage building, and photographs posted to social media showed fractured roads, as well as fallen ceiling tiles at an Anchorage high school. A large section of an overpass near the Anchorage airport collapsed, marooning a car on a narrow island of pavement next to where the road gave way.

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The set of Anchorage TV station KTVA collapsed and was destroyed. Water was seen in hallways and there was more damage throughout the building.

The quake also disrupted electrical service and knocked out traffic lights in Anchorage, snarling traffic.

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Cereal boxes and packages of batteries littered the floor of a grocery store, and picture frames and mirrors were knocked from living room walls.

People went back inside after the first earthquake struck, but the 5.8 aftershock about five minutes later sent them running back into the streets.

A group of Seattle friends was on the 20th floor of the Anchorage Marriott when the quake hit

"This was so violent. It was like, I'm jerked around like this Someone said, Get under the table. Get under the table. So, five people crowded under a high-top table with me. And it just seemed like it lasted forever,” said Kathy Voorhees

The Anchorage quake quickly showed up on seismographs at the University of Washington's Seismology lab.

UW Seismologists say it’s the same kind of quake as the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake that struck the Puget Sound Region.

“It's a reminder of the seismic activity, we could have another Nisqually event here any day,” said Prof. Mouse Reusch.

A tsunami warning was issued for the southern Alaska coastal areas of Cook's Inlet and part of the Kenai peninsula. Kodiak police on Kodiak Island warned people in the city of 6,100 to "evacuate to higher ground immediately" because of "wave estimated 10 minutes."

Michael Burgy, a senior technician with the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, said the tsunami warning was automatically generated based on the quake's size and proximity to shore. Scientists monitored gauges to see if the quake generated big waves. Because there were none, they canceled the warning.

In Kenai, southwest of Anchorage, Brandon Slaton was alone at home and soaking in the bathtub when the earthquake struck. Slaton, who weighs 209 pounds, said it created a powerful back-and-forth sloshing in the bath, and before he knew it, he was thrown out of the tub by the waves.

His 120-pound mastiff panicked and tried to run down the stairs, but the house was swaying so much that the dog was thrown off its feet and into a wall and tumbled to the base of the stairs, Slaton said.

Slaton ran into his son's room after the shaking stopped and found his fish tank shattered and the fish on the floor, gasping for breath. He grabbed it and put it in another bowl.

"It was anarchy," he said. "There's no pictures left on the walls, there's no power, there's no fish tank left. Everything that's not tied down is broke."

Alaska averages 40,000 earthquakes per year, with more large quakes than the 49 other states combined. Southern Alaska has a high risk of earthquakes because of tectonic plates sliding past each other under the region.

Alaska has been hit by a number of powerful quakes over 7.0 magnitude in recent decades, including a 7.9 that hit last January southeast of Kodiak Island. But it is rare for a quake this big to strike so close such a heavily populated area.

David Harper was getting some coffee at a store when the low rumble began and intensified into something that sounded "like the building was just going to fall apart." Harper ran to the exit with other patrons there.

"The main thought that was going through my head as I was trying to get out the door was, 'I want this to stop,'" he said. Harper said the quake was "significant enough that the people who were outside were actively hugging each other. You could tell that it was a bad one."

On March 27, 1964, Alaska was hit by a 9.2 earthquake, the strongest recorded in U.S. history, centered about 75 miles east of Anchorage. The quake, which lasted about 4½ minutes, and the tsunami it triggered claimed about 130 lives.

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