When we awoke Saturday morning, Michelle found the slight layer of dust on the kitchen faucet mildly confusing. More so Aly’s phone message asking us if we’d felt the earthquake. Shortly after that, we heard (on NPR of all places) that Southeast Alaska had been hit by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake!
Like most of the earthquakes I’ve experienced growing up and living most of my life in Alaska, this one passed me unawares. When it hit west of Craig (pronounced like your friend, Craig’s name, not “Crag,” as the newscaster did) around midnight, we were asleep. We found out from Aly that she and the friend she’s staying with as she passes through Juneau on her way back to college had just turned in. She said she felt dizzy to the point of falling down, had she not been lying down already.
I realized that we wouldn’t have stood a chance if the tsunami the earthquake generated had been of dangerous magnitude. We had inadvertently disabled our Earthquake Alarm before going to bed that evening.
Our wine glass rack/Earthquake Alarm. Perhaps it’s time to post a warning against tampering with, or disabling the alarm? (Photo: Mark Zeiger).