Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 24 January 2018
Undersea quake sends Alaskans fleeing from feared tsunami

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Alert. Tsunami danger good resemblance to the
— A powerful undersea on the coast. Go to high big one. That's what scared
earthquake sent Alaskans ground or move inland. Lis- us."
fumbling for suitcases and ten to local news." Tuesday's quake was re-
racing to evacuation cen- There were no reports of corded at 12:32 a.m. in the
ters in the middle of the damage, not even on Ko- Pacific Ocean about 170
night after a cellphone alert diak Island, the closest land miles southeast of Kodiak,
warned a tsunami could to the epicenter. Only after home to one of the nation's
hit communities along the the all-clear was sounded largest Coast Guard bases.
state's southern coast and did a little levity emerge. In It prompted the warning
parts of British Columbia. Kodiak, a customer posted across thousands of miles
The monster waves never on the Facebook page of of Alaska's southern coast,
materialized, but people King's Diner: "Hungry? Tsu- from Attu in the Aleutian Is-
who fled endured hours nami got you up early?" lands to Canada's border
of tense waiting at shelters Eleanor King opened the with Washington state. Ko-
before they were cleared People line the hallway at Sitka High School Tuesday, Jan. 23, diner at the usual time of 6 diak is about 200 miles (321
to return home. 2018, in Sitka, Alaska after tsunami sirens and cell phone mes- a.m. By the time customers kilometers) south of An-
"This was a win as far as sages told residents to find higher ground after a 7.9 magnitude started arriving, the excite- chorage, the state's largest
I could tell," said Marjie earthquake struck in the Gulf of Alaska. ment had passed and peo- city, which was not under a
(James Poulson/Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP)
Veeder, clerk for the city ple just sat around quietly tsunami threat.
of Unalaska, which is home in the Gulf of Alaska trig- refuge at schools or other eating their meals, speak- Elsewhere in the United
to the international fish- gered the jarring alert that shelters. ing little of the quake. States, Washington state,
ing port of Dutch Harbor roused people shortly after Even for Alaskans accus- The temblor reminded King Oregon, California and Ha-
in the Aleutian Islands. "We midnight Tuesday. Fleeing tomed to tsunami threats of a deadly 1964 quake waii were under tsunami
got advance warning and motorists clogged some and tsunami drills, the that generated tsunamis watches, which eventually
were so thankful for that." highways in their rush to phone message was alarm- that killed 129 people and were lifted. Officials in Ja-
The magnitude 7.9 quake higher ground. Many took ing. It read: "Emergency wreaked widespread dev- pan say there was no tsu-
astation — events that re- nami threat there.
main vivid in the memories The state has an active tsu-
of many Alaskans. nami-readiness program,
"It started out just like the and many communities
big one," she said. "It was have sirens and evacua-
very slow and rolling, a tion plans.q

Sheriff: Remains of missing

gas rig workers recovered

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — of McAlester, Parker Wal-
The remains of five gas rig dridge of Crescent and
workers missing since a fiery Roger Cunningham from
explosion in eastern Okla- Seminole — and two from
homa have been recov- neighboring states, Josh
ered, authorities said Tues- Ray of Fort Worth, Texas;
day. and Cody Risk of Welling-
Pittsburg County Sheriff ton, Colorado.
Chris Morris said once the Morris, whose office was re-
natural gas drilling rig was sponsible for notifying the
stabilized following the families of the workers who
blast and subsequent fires, were killed, said it has been
employees from the state a difficult two days for ev-
medical examiner's office eryone involved.
went into the wreckage "I think you can imagine,
and recovered the bodies they're not doing well,"
in about two hours. Morris said. "No law en-
"The bodies were located in forcement officer likes to
the area where they were do that. The family not
presumed to be working knowing and feeling emp-
in, what they call the 'dog ty about where their loved
house,'" Morris said, refer- ones are, it's a tough situa-
ring to a room on the rig tion. " Three of the workers
floor that generally serves were employed by Hous-
as an office for the drilling ton-based Patterson-UTI
crew. Energy Inc. Company pres-
He said state and federal ident and CEO Andy Hen-
investigators will work with dricks pledged a full inves-
the companies involved to tigation into the explosion.
determine how the blast “We want to learn from
occurred. this,” Hendricks said. “We
The workers who were don’t want this to happen
killed include three from again for anybody in our
Oklahoma — Matt Smith industry.” q