The General's Logbook

The Joy that is Earthquakes

As many of you know from the gracious and ever watchful Silverhand19's post, at 8:29 AM this morning, a 7.2 Earth Quake hit Anchorage Alaska.

It came out of nowhere. Usually you can hear it first, then feel the first rattles as it builds up and you have just enough time to think, "Oh great-" before it hits. This time? Nothing.

I had just gotten out of the shower (praise God) and was getting dressed. At first I wasn't sure what happened, but as I stood there, blinking in confusion I realized it was that the massive noise and reason the floor was violently shaking was in fact an earthquake and not just the washing machine shaking the house as usual.

Then it got worse. I stood up and planted myself out of reach of my closet doors and just in front of the only shelf in the room likely to fall on me as the floor rocked under my feet. Glancing back I saw the decorations and everything sliding off my shelves to land on my bed or the floor.

I remember listening to my family's voices outside my closed bedroom door and praying quickly aloud that ye house wouldn't fall on us. I couldn't even hear the sound of my own voice.

Then there was a sharp clap and everything just went black. Our power had gone out. It's winter and thus still totally dark out at 8:30 in Alaska so I could see nothing except the glow from battery powered decorative lights in the bathroom through the crack of the door.

It was at this moment that I realized this- unlike the smaller earthquakes we get all the time- might be serious.

Then my dad opened the door and got me to come with him. We plus my mom and brother went quickly down the stairs to get out. There was something on the stairs under my feet, but again it was dark and I didn't have time to see.

We struggled to get on boots in the entry way and I blindly grabbed several warm coats off the rack and threw them down to my family. Then we went outside.

By then the ground was mostly still. We stood outside in a huddle and waited for it to quiet fully. After a few minutes to moments, I don't really know the whole thing was a blur, I broke away and went to go check on our chickens, which were ruffled but unhurt.

In the dim morning light just beginning to peek over the mountains, mom and I opened the house door again, while dad and my brother went to check on our actual bigger house in construction.

I cracked the door open and just listened for a moment. Other than the total silence that comes without power and the fading rumble of the quake, I could hear water running. Which is a bit uh oh after an earthquake and usually means, "SUCKS TO BE YOU, your pipes are broken."

I grabbed a headlamp off the key rack, kicked off my boots and darted upstairs. Shining the light on the steps on the way up, I found them covered in dirt and little rocks. At first I had no idea what that could be from, but upon further investigation, I discovered that it was from my brother's little cactus, Mr Prickles, that sat in the windowsill above the stairs. The cactus itself had fallen to the very far side of the stairs, and we were incredibly lucky that that was so because stepping on that thing in the dark in an earthquake? Holy heck.

By this time, mom had passed me and reported that the running water was just from the sink faucet that she had left on in the rush to get out.

Coming up the stairs was interesting. Stuff was just... everywhere. The school room floor was littered with books and dirt from another plant casualty. There was also broken glass all over the floor from it's pot and with my bare feet I had to tread carefully in the dark. I could still feel the rattle, so I quickly darted around the room, taking precariously placed things, valuables, and other plants and putting them on the floor.