Mark and I returned from Fairbanks this evening to find worried e-mails from both our mothers. Apparently there was a large earthquake somewhere around the Aleutian Islands and the threat of a tsunami. Here’s what I sent to my mother to relieve her mind:
It sounds like the earthquake you heard about was in the Aleutian Islands. On the comparison map above that would be like somewhere in southern CA, AZ or NM. Tok is in the vicinity of Illinois on this map.
In the above map, look at the border with the Yukon. You’ll see that 2 roads cross the border into Alaska and converge in Tok. The person who might be closer to the earthquake and possible tsunami would be my shirt-tail cousin, Karen McGahan in Kenai. That’s where the big inlet that comes off the Aleutian Islands goes into the Southcentral part of the map. We are in the interior section of the map.
Also, we spent the day today going up to Fairbanks which you can see to the NW of Tok, just beyond North Pole. Fairbanks is 202 miles from Tok in a northerly direction. We were quite safe. Thanks for thinking of us though. You might want to say a prayer for Karen.