Wake Up Call

At 1:30am this morning, Jane and I were rudely awaken to a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.  The United States Geological Service says that this quake was the strongest recorded in Cook Inlet (the 9.2 earthquake in 1964 was centered in Prince William Sound). The epicenter was less than a 100 miles away, and luckily, the overall damage in the area was minimal.  There's been a few homes that have caught on fire (gas leak), my neighbor's water line was severed, and there's a deep crack on Kalifornsky Beach road. Collectively, everyone feels it could have been much, much worse.

Officials said the quake lasted for two minutes but it seemed to me like it was two hours.  Shower doors were clanging, lights were swaying, drawers were open, and stuff fell on the floor.  At one point it felt like our house had been lifted up five feet and dropped.  I've been around a lot of quakes and tremors in my life, but this was the first time I felt like I should get out of the house.  Fortunately, as I came to this conclusion it was all over.  Thankfully.

So, to our friends and family.....no worries, we're doing great.

Update 12:00pm:  3 houses in Kenai have been destroyed by fire/explosions.  No injuries.  

Update 2:30pm:  4 houses in Kenai have been destroyed by fire/explosions.  No injuries.