Yes everybody I am fine. The earth in fact did NOT swallow me up.

Safeway store on the Kenai Peninsula.

So last night, at a truly unreasonable 1:30 AM, the ground beneath my feet doth shake, waking me from my most blissful slumber.

I'm not gonna lie, even for this veteran of a hundred or more earthquakes, THAT was a serious wake up call.

According to Alaska Dispatch the quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and was centered at Anchor Point which is a little over two hundred miles from Anchorage.

Anyhow besides being awakened in the middle of the damn night, the only real damage done at the Gryphen Fortress of Fearless Blogging, was that a picture fell off my daughter's wall.

However thanks for checking in on me everybody, I appreciate the concern.

"I feel the earth move under my feet." Yesterday's earthquake in Alaska was a doozy.

Good Friday earthquake of 1964.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch News:

 A 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit south of Mount Iliamna around 6:35 p.m. Tuesday rattled Alaska from Kodiak to Fairbanks, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. 

The quake struck roughly 70 miles below the Earth’s surface across Cook Inlet from Homer, said Michael West, a seismologist at the Alaska Earthquake Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The epicenter was about 144 miles southwest of Anchorage. 

“It’s deep -- that’s important,” he said. “That means the shaking was not as strong, but spread widely.” 

Linda Hull of Clam Gulch, about 65 miles away from the earthquake’s epicenter, said she heard a very low rumble before a slow rolling motion started. That lasted for several seconds before she felt a jolt. 

“Pictures didn’t fall off the walls, but they are all crooked,” she said after the quake. Glass figurines fell off her shelves, but didn’t break. “Light fixtures were still swaying for about three minutes after the shock hit,” she said.

So let me first say that I am certainly not a neophyte when it comes to earthquakes. Having lived in Alaska my entire life I have felt more than my fair share.

However this one yesterday was really something else.

My grandmother once described the 64 earthquake as feeling like the ground had gone liquid, and that she could barely stand up. That was what yesterday's earthquake felt like to me.

The ground beneath my feet started to sway so aggressively that it even caused my office chair to roll with me in it, which was fairly disconcerting.

I currently live only about half a mile or so from where my other grandmother lived during the Good Friday earthquake, and her house developed a crack in the foundation that could never be properly repaired, so yeah yesterday's quake most definitely got my attention.

They have been predicting another huge earthquake up here for years, ever since the last one actually, but I think yesterday was the first time that I ever took that threat very seriously.

The epitome of Christian love.

So that strange looking individual up above is a former LA cop and current missionary and self styled preacher Tony Miano. He is also used to host a show with Kirk Cameron buddy, Ray Comfort.

Well while most people were reacting with horror at the devastation that resulted from that earthquake in Nepal, Miano had an entirely different reaction.

.@CNN Praying 4 the lost souls in Nepal. Praying not a single destroyed pagan temple will b rebuilt & the people will repent/receive Christ.
— Tony Miano (@TonyMiano) April 25, 2015

Yeah nothing like a devastating earthquake, and an astronomical loss of innocent life, to convince the heathens to reject thousands of years of religious tradition and embrace the Christian god, who Christians believe is responsible for all natural phenomena on earth.

Good sales pitch.

(H/T to The Friendly Atheist.)

Death toll in Nepal rises to almost 2,000.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Nepal climbed above 1,900 on Sunday and was continuing to rise as officials struggled to gauge the full scale of the disaster and the world rushed to provide desperately needed aid. 

Dozens of aftershocks jolted Nepal on Saturday and Sunday as people sheltered where they could. Nepalese authorities continually revised the number of dead upwards a day after the Himalayan country was shaken by a magnitude 7.8 quake that wrecked houses, flattened centuries-old temples and triggered avalanches on Mount Everest. 

More than 5,000 people had been injured, with the number of dead and injured expected to rise in the coming days. Nepalese police officials said more than 700 people died in Kathmandu alone. 

An avalanche triggered by the quake struck a section of Everest’s base camp, killing at least 17 people and injuring 61 others, local reports said. Further up the mountain, about 100 climbers were safe but facing difficulty getting down as the route back to safety was damaged, with the situation of more people on other other routes on the mountain still unknown and rescue efforts under way.

So much devastation!

My daughter arrived back home last night after being on the road with a traveling stage show for almost a month, and she sort of shamed me by asking how I could be so focused on the President's WHCD speech and not this tragedy.

She had a point.

I guess part of the reason I had not written about it is that I found it a little overwhelming and didn't know what I could do to help here on this blog.

The US is responding by sending a disaster response team and a million dollars in aid, but I imagine that amount will go up as we learn more about the devastation and loss of life.

I would suggest to those that want to help that they could start by making a donation to the Red Cross, because you know they will be in the thick of things.

If any of you have more information, or more legitimate places to donate, please let us know.

After all we are really one community sharing this planet, and what hurts one of us, hurts all of us.

Best reaction to the earthquake in LA today.

You know I realize that was kind of comical looking but there are heavy lights hanging over the heads of those anchors and diving under the desk like cowards could have been the only thing that saved their lives.

It kind of reminds me of when I was kid and we had a substitute teacher from out of state, who reacted to a short, but rather powerful, underground jolt by screaming, diving under her desk, and yelling at the class to do the same.

Instead we sat there laughing at her.

She never really did get our attention again for the rest of that class.

By the way Dennis Zaki is in LA right now working on some TV deals, and when I e-mailed him to ask if he had felt the quake he wrote back, "Nope, sleeping."

Amazing footage taken by Japanese film crew just as the tsunami hit.

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Rachel Maddow explains what is happening with the nuclear reactors in Japan. And it is NOT good.

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As many of you may have noticed, Rachel has become my go-to person to explain what is happening in the world.  To my mind NOBODY breaks the information down and makes it as easily digestible as Rachel Maddow.

And this is extremely horrifying information, so having somebody as clear headed and well informed as my favorite MSNBC host explain it to us, may not make it less frightening, but it does allow us to know exactly what we are facing.

Update:

Officials say dangerous levels of radiation were detected after a third explosion rocked a nuclear plant damaged in last week's earthquake.

People living within 19 miles of the facility are being told to avoid drinking tap water, and keep their houses air tight.

This reminds me of the instructions children in the US received to hide under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack.  It does not seem like sufficient protection to keep families safe this close to the reactors. They should evacuate these people in my opinion.

When is an earthquake not just an earthquake? When one of those "Rapture ready" morons gets caught in his hotel room by one.

From WorldNetDaily:

Tim LaHaye, the best-selling author of the "Left Behind" series of Bible prophecy novels, was one of many visiting the island of Maui who had to be evacuated to upper floors of the Marriott Hotel today.

He said being caught in the crossfire of the fourth largest earthquake in modern history helped prepare him for two prophecy conferences he was scheduled to address in Hawaii.

"The Bible tells us in Matthew 24 that one of the signs of the last days – one of the birth pangs to occur – is an increase in earthquake activity and intensity," LaHaye told WND. "We're seeing that happen here. It's not just earthquakes, but hurricanes and all kinds of natural disasters."

Now do you see why I have so much disdain for organized religions?

Seriously, people actually buy this dimbulb's books and alter their  lives because of the insane crap he writes in them.  That should be a criminal offense, don't you think?

Besides this so-called "expert" on the end times cannot even identify a real sign of the coming Armageddon. Earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes are child's play.

But if Sarah Palin were actually to be elected the President in 2012?  Now THAT would be a sure sign of the end of the world as we know it.



See?

Teabagger response to the devastating earthquake in Japan.

What a classy bunch of Twitards.

Earthquake in Japan reveals frightening concerns about safety of nuclear energy.

From CNN:

An explosion at an earthquake-damaged nuclear plant was not caused by damage to the nuclear reactor but by a pumping system that failed as crews tried to bring the reactor's temperature down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Saturday.

The next step for workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant will be to flood the reactor containment structure with sea water to bring the reactor's temperature down to safe levels, he said. The effort is expected to take two days.

Radiation levels have fallen since the explosion and there is no immediate danger, Edano said. But authorities were nevertheless expanding the evacuation to include a radius of 20 kilometers (about 12.5 miles) around the plant. The evacuation previously reached out to 10 kilometers.

You know it may just be that I am a product of my time, but I have always become very uncomfortable when politicians start pushing the idea of building more reactors in America to ease our burden on foreign oil and to move us toward more modern energy solutions.  I have even heard nuclear energy rebranded as a "renewable energy source" in order to make it seem more palatable.

Of course I still remember how panicked we all were during the incident at Three Mile Island, and have watched the China Syndrome at least a half dozen times, so perhaps my perspective is skewed.

What do all of you think about nuclear energy making a resurgence in America?  Do you feel it is safe?  And considering what is happening in Japan, has that altered your point of view?

Tsunami hits Japan after major earthquake. Update!

From The Telegraph:

An earthquake measuring 8.9 struck off the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, causing "many injuries", major tsunami damage and at least one fire.

The Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed cars, trucks, houses and buildings being swept away by tsunami in Onahama city in Fukushima prefecture. Black smoke was seen billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.
Television showed cars bobbing in water along side fishing boats. A 50 cm tsunami hit Japan's northern coast.



Tsunami warnings have also been issued for the west coat of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia.

The exact magnitude of this quake still seems to be in question as I have seen 7.9, 8.8, and 8.9.  However what is clear is that it was a big one with a substantial amount of damage.

(BTW I was awakened to this news by the Emergency Broadcasting System. So I am letting all of you know as well)

Update: The earthquake is now officially measured at 8.9. And it is the largest earthquake to hit in Japan's history.

Here is more video of the devastation.



As I stated before there are still Tsunami warnings in place up and down the west coast of America, and it has already hit Hawaii

The President has released his official statement on this disaster:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2011

Statement By The President On The Earthquake In Japan And The Resulting Tsunami Warning Throughout The Pacific

"Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the people of Japan, particularly those who have lost loved ones in the earthquake and tsunamis.

The United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial.

The friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakeable, and only strengthens our resolve to stand with the people of Japan as they overcome this tragedy.

We will continue to closely monitor tsunamis around Japan and the Pacific going forward and we are asking all our citizens in the affected region to listen to their state and local officials as I have instructed FEMA to be ready to assist Hawaii and the rest of the US states and territories that could be affected."

Earthquake of 8.8 magnitude devastates Chile.

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A massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, killing at least 85 people, triggering a tsunami and damaging buildings more than 200 miles away.

President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe".

This is absolutely terrible. First Haiti and now this.

Today is a day of shock and concern as the world turns to offer support to the people devastated by the earthquake in Haiti.

Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after the strongest earthquake to hit the poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped.

The devastation was so complete that it seemed likely the death toll from Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake would run into the thousands.

This is just terrible and my heart goes out to the Haitians.

I found this source for pictures of the devastation.




If you are feeling as helpless as I am, and want to do something to help, here is the Red Cross website where you can donate. You can donate to Doctor's without Borders here, or the the UNICEF earthquake relief fund here. If there are other LEGITIMATE relief programs out there then feel free to post them in the comments section.

EARTHQUAKE!

It felt like kind of a small one, but it certainly got my attention.

I will update when more information comes in.

Update: Sorry I should have come back to this earlier, but I was distracted.

This from ADN:

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake under Cook Inlet rattled buildings in Anchorage and elsewhere in Southcentral Alaska this morning. There were no reports of damage.

EARTHQUAKE!!!

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- An earthquake rocked Southcentral at about 11:30 a.m. Monday.

The 5.3 magnitude quake occurred about 30 miles southwest of Talkeetna, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

There is no tsunami expected, NOAA said.

A small one actually.

It did not shake the foundation of my house like usual. It just shook the windows and rumbled a little.

Still it served to wake me up a little.

Sunday morning earthquake. Woo hoo!

Hang on kids!

Now there is a wake up call from nature.

Update:

Time: Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 05:50:46 AM at epicenter

Magnitude: 4.0

Location:
28 km (17 miles) NNE (24°) from Sunrise, AK
31 km (19 miles) ESE (106°) from Anchorage, AK
32 km (20 miles) NE (47°) from Hope, AK

It was a fairly small quake, but it sort of hit without the usual foreplay of the rolling tremor effect. All in all a respectful earthquake that may have roused a few sleeping Alaskans.