USA (MNN) — Anchorage, Alaska is still “rock-and-rolling” following Friday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake. The US Geological Survey reports more than 1,000 aftershocks in the area ranging from magnitudes 2.0 to 4.0.
Approximately 40 percent of Alaska’s total population lives in Anchorage, and for many, Friday’s quake triggered frightening flashbacks to 1964. On Good Friday of that year, a 9.2-magnitude earthquake changed parts of the Alaskan coastline and killed more than 100 people. It went down in history as the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America.
As reported by the Anchorage Daily News, the power of last week’s quake made it significant. It caused major damage to roads, but thankfully no lives were lost. When the shake-up started, SOAR International Ministries’ Becky Dwinnell thought another car had hit hers. She had just picked up two children to take them to school and was waiting at a stop sign.
“I looked behind me and there was nobody behind me. And then I heard on the radio, the announcers, they were saying, ‘Well, ladies and gentlemen we’re having an- oh! We’re having an earthquake!’” she recalls.
“All of a sudden it was like my car was on a trampoline; my car was kind of jumping around.”
Praises…
Shake map.
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Headquartered in Kenai, Alaska, SOAR partners with local churches to share Christ’s love and hope in Russia. Learn more about SOAR here. Their office is located roughly 100 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter. Though the ground moved, neither SOAR’s buildings nor their planes suffered any damage.
Dwinnell praises God for this and says she hopes this will provide a “conversation starter” with those who don’t know Him.
“God was just telling us that He’s still in control and He’s still here. He’s just making His presence known. We just praise the Lord that there were no fatalities and no injuries.”
Alaska has 40,000 earthquakes a year, and this was the second-most-powerful quake on record.
“Alaska’s always moving,” explains Dwinnell. “You can’t feel the small ones, but you sure can feel the big ones!”
…and prayers
Many offices were closed yesterday, and schools throughout Anchorage are closed for the week so damages can be assessed. Alaska’s Governor Bill Walker declared a state of emergency over the weekend.
“My sister lives in Anchorage and she had to be evacuated because she lives right on the water,” Dwinnell adds. “She said she has a lot of cracks in her house.”
Please pray for wisdom and discernment in the days to come. Pray also for God’s peace to calm rattled nerves.
“People in Alaska are awesome. They come alongside everybody,” says Dwinnell in closing. “Whether they’re hurting or whatever, people in Alaska stick by each other.”
Header image is a stock photo courtesy of Pixabay.
