Getting kind if tired of rocking and rolling. Watching the lights swing on their chains, and the ceiling fans swinging in circles. Our house has cathedral ceilings and the lights and fans are hanging on long chains and rods. The wife sitting up at night in bed gasping and grabbing my arm with a death grip. Going out into the garage and finding things on the floor. Even if I don't feel it the dogs do and go ballistic. It's getting kind of old. I keep thinking about the 9.something we had back in 2002 that shook the Alaska Pipeline off it's saddles, and damaged the walls, and broke windows in my house. Heres an exert from todays Daily News Miner:
FAIRBANKS — Earthquakes continue to rattle through Ester and Chena Ridge nearly two weeks after the first quake struck on May 23.
More than 60 earthquakes have occurred in Alaska’s central region since 4 p.m. Saturday, the strongest being a 3.8 magnitude quake on Sunday at 9:35 p.m. just outside Ester.
A majority of the recent quakes register at less than a 1.0 magnitude, meaning it is unlikely anyone in the Fairbanks vicinity felt them according to seismologists with the Alaska Earthquake Information Center.
Quakes continued into Monday, with the strongest registering at a 1.39 magnitude at 4:13 a.m.
At 9:53 a.m. Tuesday, a 1.37 magnitude quake rolled through an area 4 miles southwest of Ester. Just three minutes before that, a 2.13 magnitude quake hit an area 6 miles west of Manley Hot Springs.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were no reports of damage.
While Fairbanks is no stranger to a sporadic shake here and there, seismologists with the Alaska Earthquake Information Center say the recent tremors are somewhat unusual.
“It’s unusual because it hasn’t happened in a while — since 1967 to be exact, where there were three magnitude 5 and greater earthquakes in the Fairbanks area,” seismologist Natasha Ruppert said.
The earthquakes are not a result of the Denali Fault line, she said. The fault line is located about 100 miles south of Fairbanks near Denali Village.
“These earthquakes are associated with seismic activity, which we’ve known about for as long as we’ve been detecting earthquakes in Alaska,” she said.
Ruppert said that while most earthquakes are associated with faults, it’s difficult for scientists to locate any faults in the Ester area given the lay of the land.
“To know exactly where faults are, geologists need to map those structures, and that is hard to do in Fairbanks because glacial deposits, gravel, ground cover and heavy vegetation make it hard for geologists to look for rocks to identify where faults may lay,” she said.
Questions arise as to whether the recent tremors are foreshocks for a larger earthquake but Ruppert said it’s hard for scientists to forecast future earthquakes based on current activity.
“This is a known area for seismic activity, so people should prepare for any seismic activity if they live in the greater Fairbanks area,” she said.
