Sunday earthquake shakes up concerns about future temblors

Monday morning customers and staff at the Talkeetna Roadhouse were still talking about the earthquake the day before -- the one that threw dishpans and bottles to the floor, left dogs whimpering and kicked up fears that a bigger one may be lurking in the future.

"People seem a little more nervous this time," said Ruby Berticcio, a waitress at the lodge. "Now people are starting to wonder -- OK, how many more?"

While Sunday afternoon's quake did little damage locally, it was the largest to shake Interior Alaska in more than 50 years and it followed on the heels of a 6.7 quake less than two weeks before.

People who experienced Sunday's quake described how it rolled in and continued for much longer than most they had felt. In Wasilla's Fred Meyer, lights and display signs swayed while shoppers stood silent. After it ended, one customer let out a whoop and others cheered.

Valley residents described neighbors running into the streets in fear while others stayed nonchalantly indoors. Some said it was by far the most intense quake they had ever felt, while others, especially those in vehicles, barely noticed the temblor.

Berticcio said she was at home when the quake hit and several pots and pans clattered to the floor.

"I was just standing there and it just kept going and going," she recalled. "I'm glad I wasn't in the kitchen with the cast-iron skillet."

Instead, she was sitting with her dogs, which Berticio described as much more anxious than during other quakes.

"That's what I've heard more this time than last time … the dogs were getting nervous, the cats screeching," she said.

On the other side of the Valley, up the Glenn Highway, Sheep Mountain Lodge owner Zack Steer was having a similar experience. Steer was out on the tundra near Sheep Mountain with a fourwheeler and his dog team.

"The dogs were yapping and barking -- they knew something was up … and then 26 sled dogs all of a sudden got quiet," Steer said.

Steer said he read in another newspaper a very accurate description of what it is like to be on the tundra during the earthquake -- like standing on a bowl full of jelly.

"The tundra was moving and this little creek started flowing backward," Steer recalled.

Steer said he believes being in a building magnifies the experience of an earthquake, but he and his wife had no trouble detecting Sunday's shake even as they stood outside.

"We thought, 'Man, this has got to be pretty big,'" Steer recalled. When he and his wife returned home and got on the Internet, they weren't surprised to find the quake was registered as a 7.9 by the Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer.

But as in Talkeetna, the quake caused little damage. Steer said a few bottles of liquor fell off the shelves and broke. The most noticeable, lasting effect of the quake has been the lack of traffic on the Glenn Highway, perhaps because of damage on roadways farther north.

"One thing we've noticed is the truck traffic is down," Steer said. "It's pretty quiet on the highway."