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Published: August 10th 2012
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We had an exciting start to our morning. We had an earthquake. They said that the epicenter was 60 miles northeast of Seward. Probably about 100 miles from here. The preliminary magnitude of the earthquake was 5.2. I went online to read about the earthquakes in Alaska and they said that there are 50-100 earthquakes daily in Alaska. This is approximately 24,000 a year. These earthquakes in Alaska account for approximately 11% of the world's earthquakes and 52% of all earthquakes in the U.S. Alaska has more seismicity than any other region in North America and is by far the mosts seismically active state in the U.S. When we got here Monday night, the lady at the office told us that there had been a bear in the RV park. The next morning people that were parked behind us said that they saw the bear. They said that the animal control came and set a trap. I am attaching a picture of the bear trap. Tuesday morning Barbara gave several of us a haircut at her "outdoor beauty shop." As I said before, we are lucky to have a beautician in our group. Tuesday was a beautiful day. It seems like
the weather here has a pattern. In the morning it is misty rain until it clears up in the afternoon. Yesterday was one of those days. Our group had a very delicious potluck dinner last night. We ate outside, enjoying the beautiful scenery here. There are mountains all around Valdez, even around Prince William Sound. You basically can walk anywhere here in Valdez. We are about 3 blocks from the docks. They say tht the population is approximately 4,100, but the town covers approximately 274 square miles. The average annual rainfall is 64 inches. The average annual snowfall is 325 inches. They had a record snowfall of 560.7 inches in 1989/90. The summer average high temperature is 53 and the low 46. The winter average high is 22 and the low 17. Valdez is serviced year-round, multiple times daily by 2 regional airlines. Their major industry is oil, commercial fishing, seafood processing and shipping. They have a medical center here as well as a a community college. As I mentioned before, Valdez is the end of the Trans Alaska Pipeline. They also have a refinery here. Unfortuantely Valdez is also known for the March 24, 1989 oil spill. The tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh reef, approximately 25 miles outside of Valdez causing the largest oil spill in North American history. As I mentioned before in an earlier blog, on March 27, 1964, a 9.2 earthquake lasting over four minutes struck 45 miles west of Valdez. The quake triggered an underwater landslide creating tremendous waves that washed away the Valdez waterfront, drowning 30 people on the dock and three men on the steamer "Chena." In 1967, the town of Valdez was condemned when it was discovered it was built on unstable ground. The town was relocated to the present site. Fifty-two buildings were moved 4 miles west. I thought that it was interesting that the earthquake and the oil spill both occurred on Good Friday. I am also attaching a picture of a large wooden American Indian sculpture. This was sculpted by Peter Toth with hammer and chisel. Since 1971 he has sculpted 70 of these in 50 states. He did these honoring the American Indian, call it the Trail of the Whispering Giants. This one is 30 ft tall and 10 ft. wide.
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