Sunday, June 7, 2009

Earthquakes

So, I just felt my second earthquake since being here in Skagway. I was sitting in my office, when all of a sudden the floor started shaking quite vigorously. It shook for at least 10 seconds, and then petered out to a gentle vibration until it was gone. There was only one other person in the office, and he did not feel it at all. I was kind of shocked because it was not like things were falling off my walls or anything, but it lasted a while and was noticeable to me. ANYWAYS, so I looked it up on http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/index.html, which is an excellent resource, and sure enough, it was a 5.37 Magnitude, located approximately 65 miles away. Pretty far, which is why we didn't get any real brute force, but a 5.37 is pretty big. The last one I felt was approx. 3.7, and it was noticeable, but not as much as this one.

I know that Alaska has a lot of earthquakes. But I think it's odd that I've never felt any until this summer, and both happened to be in my office. Maybe it's because my office is close to the ocean? I am maybe 150 feet from water. I am sorry to say I don't know much about earthquakes, other than that we get a lot here in Alaska, and I think they are kinda cool. I by no means think kindly of the huge, devastating kind, but the smaller ones are intriguing to say the least. Our earth is interesting.

Anyways, I know this is all kind of dorky, but I am excited to have experienced a couple!

1 comment:

JC said...

OMG! That is so creepy! What did it feel like? How are you? I miss my ibby! :)