Friday's earthquake gave Anchorage parents little time to react

Tony Skilja stands just outside his home with his daughter Sofia as Friday's earthquake hits....
Tony Skilja stands just outside his home with his daughter Sofia as Friday's earthquake hits. Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Skilja. (KTUU)
Published: Dec. 1, 2018 at 2:47 AM AKST
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Anchorage parents did not have time to think, only react, to help their children to safety during Friday morning’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

Jesse Elmore, his wife, and three kids, were all getting ready for the day when they felt the first tremor. Jesse had the baby in a high chair eating breakfast. The coffee had just finished brewing.

"I had just started the machine and poured myself some coffee," Elmore said.

Security footage of the quake in progress shows the entire house beginning to rumble, light fixtures swinging back and forth from the wall.

“Woah! An earthquake!" Elmore said to his kids. He grabbed his daughter’s hand, took a quick glance back at the baby to make sure he was okay, and started towards the basement to find his other daughter.

But the quake came on too fast, forcing him to turn back to get the baby before locating his wife and second daughter.

Elmore says his sole focus was bringing his whole family together to ensure their safety. “The dad in me kicked in,” he said.

Elmore says he got everyone to a secure place where they waited out the tremors, which he says were the most powerful he’s felt in a long time.

But Elmore wasn’t the only parent who had to protect his children early Friday morning. The Skilja’s, who also shared footage of the earthquake as it shook their home, had a very similar start to their day.

Jennifer Skilja was doing her makeup as the first tremor hit. Her husband Tony was sitting at the kitchen table with their young daughter Sofia. He recognized what was happening and immediately stood up to take Sofia outside.

Pictures started falling to the floor, the camera shaking along-with the motion of the house. Jennifer’s scream pierced the background as she trailed after her husband and daughter.

"This is the first earthquake I've felt like that,” Jennifer said. “And I’ve lived here my whole life."

She laughed, remembering the morbid thought that entered her mind as the world seemed to be crumbling around her.

"I was like okay this is it, this is the end of the world," she said.

Both the Elmore and Skilja families are safe and sound, and only report feeling mildly shaken up. So far authorities reported only minor injuries and no deaths from the earthquake, despite its high magnitude.