We were sitting at the dinner table when we both looked at each in recognition of the fact that the earth was quaking. It wasn't big, it wasn't too long (a few seconds I'd guess), but there was no mistake that the house shook a bit. The lamp above the table wasn't moving when I looked up afterward. I've given up guessing the size because that's affected by so many things - like how far away it is and how deep it is and what kind of quake it is. But if it was pretty close to Anchorage I'd guess it was in the 4 - 5 range. I didn't check the clock, but it was probably some time between 7:05 and 7:20 pm.
I did go to the
USGS site and report it.
And now there's a
map up at USGS. And they report it as a 5.2 magnitude.
It's very similar to
one I posted 11 months ago.
And for those who want to know more about the Richter Scale used to measure earthquakes, I have some information on that which I
posted after the Haiti earthquake which was two points more than the one tonight, but with significant more damage. (Two points is 100 times more powerful.)
I heard that southern California - Palm Springs, San Diego - had a quake this evening too: 5.4, I think. Was it at the same time?
ReplyDeleteI just checked that was about 3 hours 15 minutes before the Alaska quake. Here's what the USGS site says:
ReplyDelete5.4
Date-Time
* Wednesday, July 07, 2010 at 23:53:33 UTC
* Wednesday, July 07, 2010 at 04:53:33 PM at epicenter
Location 33.420°N, 116.489°W
Depth 14 km (8.7 miles)
Region SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Distances 20 km (15 miles) NNW of Borrego Springs, California
40 km (25 miles) SW of Indio, California
45 km (30 miles) S of Palm Springs, California
I'm very close to the SD epicenter. It was big, but no damage. Then I saw AK got one right after.
ReplyDeleteIs it our access to the news that's much better or are there more these this year, or am I just paying attention?
Look at the USGS site. There are earthquakes happening all over the world all the time. Most are small and/or remote and do little damage. Also, a 5.2 -5.4 doesn't generally do anything serious in the US, but places with poor construction practices can have real damage. So, I think it's more awareness. 5.0 you feel. So two back to back in the same country gets attention.
ReplyDeleteUh, I would be scared to death if this happened in Hungary. We are not got used to earthquakes.
ReplyDelete