Alaska has been shaken by the second earthquake in three days.
A magnitude 5.0 quake struck 10 miles northeast of Minto, Alaska around 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The quake was measured around 10 miles deep.
The quake follows a magnitude 5.1 quake that rattled Interior Alaska on Monday.
Residents say that despite the government saying the quake had a lesser magnitude than Monday’s, the quake felt “stronger and longer” than Monday’s. A resident in Fairbanks, Alaska said that dishes fell off shelves and others reported objects in their homes damaged because of the quake.
The quakes took place on the same fault that caused more significant earthquakes in the same region this summer.
A scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey said there is a possibility that a massive earthquake off the Alaskan coast Monday could be connected to an earthquake that struck hours earlier in New Zealand.
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck shortly after noon pacific time near the largely uninhabited Kermadex Islands, northeast of the country’s North Island. The quake was followed by an aftershock of 6.3 minutes later. The Alaskan quake of magnitude 7.9 struck off the Aleutian Islands shortly before 2 p.m. pacific time.
“The timing of it is such that we call the surface waves, the waves that travel around the circumference of the earth, arrived about the time the earthquake occurred,” Oppenheimer said.
However, Oppenheimer said the strength of the Alaskan quake indicates that it would have likely happened within a short time if it was not triggered by the New Zealand quake.
“There is just so much stress relieved within an earthquake of magnitude 7.9,” he said.
The Alaskan quake triggered a small tsunami with waves about half a foot high. Seismologists attribute the low height to the 63 mile depth of the quake.
New Zealand was hit with a trio of strong quakes Tuesday morning. Two quakes, magnitude 6.9 and 6.3, struck within minutes of each other. The third, a 6.2 magnitude quake, struck about 45 minutes later.
The red alert has been downgraded to an orange alert after the eruption of Alaska’s Pavlof volcano has begun to subside.
The orange alert level has been issued because scientists do not know if the mountain will begin to erupt again.
The volcano is just over 8,200 feet tall and is in the flight path of many major international routes. The most recent eruption shot ash into the air over 30,000 feet but because of wind currents and weather conditions it was not enough to disrupt international travel.
The eruption began May 30th and escalated to peak between June 2nd and 4th. Volcanologists recorded lava flows and huge ash plumes during the eruption period until the morning of June 6th when activity suddenly declined.
Because of the remote location of the volcano, no injuries were reported.
A red alert has been issued for an Alaskan volcano located on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Pavlof Volcano, which has been active for years in releasing smoke, erupted with high intensity sending a plume of ash and smoke over 24,000 feet into the sky. The eruption was so significantly that the Alaska Volcano Observatory issued their first red alert warning since 2009.
The last alert was for Alaska’s Mount Redoubt when an eruption sent a 2009 plume over 50,000 feet into the skies. Scientists believe that the volcano could be active long after the red alert will end.
“This means it can erupt for weeks or even months,” observatory research geologist Michelle Coombs said of the warning. “I don’t think we will be at red for that long, but we are expecting it to go for a while based on its past.”
Scientists say that commercial air traffic has yet to be impacted by the eruption but say that changing weather patterns could cause a serious disruption to flights.
The Alaska House of Representatives has passed a law that would put new restrictions on abortions.
The bill would define a “medically necessary” abortion that would then place limits on what kinds of abortions can receive state funding. State funding through Medicaid would be prohibited from paying for any elective abortions.
Opponents of the bill are making the usual claims that the bill is just aimed to keep low-income women from ending the lives of their babies via abortion.
“This bill has nothing to do with restricting a women’s right to an abortion,” Representative Gabrielle LeDoux told Anchorage Daily News. “We’ve got the right to travel, but it doesn’t mean the government buys us a ticket to Paris. We’ve got the right to bear arms, but the government doesn’t buy us a Sturm Ruger.”
Democrats said the bill will not save the state any money since pro-abortionists would file repeated lawsuits to stop the law which will cost the state for legal defense.
The bill is headed back to the state Senate for a final vote before heading to the Governor.
It will be a very merry Christmas for Nome Covenant Church.
The church in a town of under 4,000 where the average temperature stays well below zero is on the far reaches of the Alaskan frontier. The church met in a building that was 75 years old and was literally being held together by cables.
The church’s pastor lived in fear of the church collapsing.
“Our old church was 75 years old, it was built with available materials at that time,” Pastor Harvey Fiskeaux told Fox News. “I was actually fearful it was going to fall in.”
The church found an outpouring of Christian love from Samaritan’s Purse, the Christian humanitarian organization known most for their Operation Christmas Child outreach.
The group flew 140 volunteers from all over the country to help the church build a brand new church and outreach center next door to the old church building.
“As a church we are there to help the infrastructure of family, children, and youth,” said Fiskeaux. “We are trying to help people’s lives.”
Pavlof Volcano, after weeks of spewing ash and lava, erupted with a new intensity Tuesday launching cinders 5 miles into the sky.
The ash has covered the town of King Cove, 30 miles south of the volcano. The ash plume has not risen beyond 28,000 feet so it doesn’t impact jetliner traffic but has forced lower-flying aircraft to divert to other flight paths. Continue reading →
Alaska is looking at its second volcanic eruption in a month.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory is reporting that tremors were detected Monday on Pavlof Volcano. The volcano is 37 miles from the community of Cold Bay, 620 miles southwest of Anchorage. Continue reading →
Three large explosions announced the beginning of a continual eruption phase for Alaska’s Cleveland Volcano.
The volcano, while remote and unlikely to cause problems to residents, is located below a major air route between Alaska and Asia. The volcano is releasing a steady plume of ash and toxic gases at least 15,000 feet into the air. Continue reading →
The Pacific “Ring of Fire” is doing its impression of Jerry Lee Lewis with a “whole lotta shakin’ going on” over the last day. Four earthquakes of a magnitude of 6 or greater shook three points on the “ring.”
The first struck in Chile with a magnitude 6.8 quake. The quake centered about 24 miles north of Vallenar and was felt as far away as the capital city of Santiago. One woman died of a heart attack that local officials attributed to stress brought on by the strong quake. Continue reading →
