7.0 Alaska quake damages roads, brings scenes of chaos

( CNN) A intensity 7.0 earthquake that struck near Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday morning disintegrated streets and splintered buildings, mailed inhabitants scurrying for cover and triggered a tsunami alert for a time, authorities said.

“It was very loud when it came, ” Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said. “It was very clear that this was something bigger than what we normally experience. We live in earthquake country so folks … but this was a big one.”

Social media and television news video depicted scenes of chaos, including students taking shelter under desks while mailing texts from their phones, streets buckling under passing autoes, grocery store products tumbling from shelves, hospital employees scrambling for embrace and panicked attorneys under tables as a courtroom rocked from side to side.