When a Magnitude 7 earthquake center just several miles north of Alaska last Friday (Nov. 30th), the locals and other Alaskans they did not panic. Anchorage’s DMO, Visit Anchorage, also did not panic. And within a matter of days things, while not back to normal—as in the way it was the day before the earthquake struck—Alaskans in and about Anchorage are working busily to get to that point. “Normal” is a little hard to achieve when there are more than 2,000 aftershocks in the earthquake’s aftermath.
A Magnitude 7 quake in other parts of the United States, or in other parts of the world probably result in severe damage to roads, bridges and other infrastructure, as well as a death toll. Not Alaska. In this regard, to illustrate how well Anchorage deals with the disaster of an earthquake, David Kasser, vice president of Visit Anchorage, posted this on Dec. 4 on his Facebook page on December 4th.
The point is that Alaskans prepare well. One reason is that they’ve had practice. There has been a Magnitude 7 earthquake somewhere in or near Alaska yearly or the past 20 years or so. As such, there are strict building codes in place throughout the state designed to minimize the impact of a quake. Teams of government agencies are constantly monitoring movements in the plates below the surface and they work with the U.S. Geological Survey to be able to sound alarms whenever necessary. Law enforcement throughout the state drill and plan for what to do when an earthquake occurs.
