Iran Creating A 'New Order' In Syria As Presence Strengthens In The Area

A new order emerges in southern Syria as Assad rises back into control

Evidence emerging from southwest Syria indicates that the Assad regime has begun to settle accounts with former rebels who worked with Israel and with Western countries during the years that this area was outside of regime control.

A number of prominent former rebel commanders in Deraa and Quneitra provinces have recently disappeared after being apprehended by regime forces. Other former rebels have been prevented from leaving the area for opposition-controlled Idlib province in the country’s northeast.

What is returning to Syria’s south, however, is not the status quo antebellum. Iran and its allies have a central role in the emergent power structure. Indeed, the emergent reality is one in which it is difficult to discern where precisely the Syrian state ends and Iran and its allies begin. Syria’s southwest, which was the cradle of the uprising against Assad, is now being transformed into the birthplace of a new Syria, in which Iran and its allies form a vital and inseparable component.

DERAA AND Quneitra provinces were among the first areas of Syria to break free of regime control. The demonstrations that launched the Syrian uprising began in Deraa city in mid-March 2011. By the end of the year, the regime had lost control of the greater part of both provinces.

In the subsequent six years, a flourishing post-regime reality came into being. International NGOs began to operate projects in the areas. A provisional local authority functioned. Unlike in northern Syria, militias aligned with Salafi- or Muslim Brotherhood-style political Islam did not swallow up all other elements. Rather, groups aligned with these streams existed alongside other less ideological formations.

Israel, determined to prevent the arrival of Iran and its proxy militias to the border with the Golan Heights, developed relations with a number of non-jihadi local rebel groups and assisted their control of the border area. Organizations such as Fursan al-Joulan and Ahrar Nawa, among others, benefited from the Israeli connection. Further east, Western governments, including the US and the UK, offered assistance to the opposition in Deraa province. Through projects such as the Free Syrian Police force, the West sought to aid the development of rudimentary civil society structures to replace those of the Assad regime.

A recent report on the Syrian Observer website provided details of a large Iranian base under construction in the Lajat area of Deraa province. According to the Syrian Observer, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Hezbollah, operating on behalf of the Iranians, “destroyed about 650 houses and cleared out a number of villages in Lajat, leveling them to the ground, to create an area of 30 square kilometers. In these villages, the Iran-backed militias prepared training barracks and warehouses for weapons and ammunition, in order to make this area into a military base for foreign Iran-backed militias to be based. The first batches of weapons and ammunition reached the militias in the area by this route at the beginning of October.”

The report went on to describe the route taken by Iran-associated fighters from the Iraq-Syria border crossing at Abu Kamal to Lajat, under the supervision of IRGC personnel.

Evidence is also emerging of the presence of Hezbollah personnel and other pro-Iranian Shia militiamen in Syrian Arab Army uniforms among the regime forces returning to the border area with the Golan Heights. This is despite the nominal Russian commitment to keep such elements at least 85 kilometers from the body.

This Iranian activity close to the border goes hand in hand with Tehran’s activity further afield, including the transfer of Shias from southern Iraq to deserted Sunni neighborhoods.

All this adds up to an emergent new postwar order in the regime-controlled part of Syria. Those who hoped for one kind of new Syria are being rounded up, detained and disappeared. 

Iran, meanwhile, is busy creating a very different kind of new order. In it, an independent Iranian presence is intertwined with, and largely indistinguishable from, the body of the Syrian state itself, in a way not coincidentally analogous to the situation in Lebanon and Iraq (minus the nominal institutions of representative government).

Mysterious Rumble Rolled Around Earth - Strange Earthquake Waves

Strange earthquake waves rippled around Earth, and nobody knows why

On the morning of November 11, just before 9:30 UT, a mysterious rumble rolled around the world.

The seismic waves began roughly 15 miles off the shores of Mayotte, a French island sandwiched between Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar. The waves buzzed across Africa, ringing sensors in Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. They traversed vast oceans, humming across Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and even Hawaii nearly 11,000 miles away.

These waves didn't just zip by; they rang for more than 20 minutes. And yet, it seems, no human felt them.

Only one person noticed the odd signal on the U.S. Geological Survey's real-time seismogram displays. An earthquake enthusiast who uses the handle @matarikipax saw the curious zigzags and posted images of them to Twitter. That small action kicked off another ripple of sorts, as researchers around the world attempted to suss out the source of the waves. Was it a meteor strike? A submarine volcano eruption? An ancient sea monster rising from the deep?

“I don't think I've seen anything like it,” says Göran Ekström, a seismologist at Columbia University who specializes in unusual earthquakes.

Nobody knows why the Earth just rang like a bell

Seismic sensors first picked up the event originating near an island between Madagascar and Africa. Then, alarm bells started ringing as far away as Chile, New Zealand and Canada.

Hawaii, almost exactly on the other side of the planet, also picked up the “event.”

Nobody knows what it was.

Meteorite? Submarine volcano? Nuclear test?

“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it,” National Geographic reports Columbia University seismologist Göran Ekström as saying. “It doesn’t mean that, in the end, the cause of them is that exotic.”

At the center of the mystery is the tiny island of Mayotte, positioned about halfway between Africa and Madagascar. It’s been subjected to a swarm of earthquakes since May. Most have been minor, but the biggest — on May 8 — was the largest in the island’s recorded history, topping at a magnitude of 5.8.

But the earthquake swarm had been in decline before the mysterious ringing was detected earlier this month.

Ekström, who specializes in unusual earthquakes, points out much about the Nov. 11 event was weird. It was as though the planet rang like a bell, maintaining a low-frequency monotone as it spread.

Earthquakes, by their very nature, usually register as short, sharp “cracks.”

As tensions in the Earth’s crust suddenly release, pulses of clearly identifiable seismic waves radiate outward from where the slippage occurs.

The first signal is called a primary wave: high-frequency compression waves that radiate in bunches.

Then comes a Secondary wave: These high-frequency waves tend to “wiggle” more.

Only then comes the surface waves: These slow, deep rumbles tend to linger, and can circle the Earth several times.

The Nov. 11 event is notable in that no primary or secondary waves were detected.

All that registered was the deep, resonant surface wave. And it didn’t rumble as an earthquake’s surface wave tends to. Instead, it maintained a much cleaner — almost musical — frequency.

National Geographic reports the French Geological Survey suspects a new volcano may be developing off the coast of Mayotte. While the island was created by volcanic activity, it’s been dormant for more than 4,000 years.

The French believe the weird ringing may have been generated by a movement of magma some 30 miles off the coast and deep underwater. This is supported by GPS sensors detecting that Mayotte has moved some 2 inches to the southeast in less than five months.But it’s a poorly mapped region. Exactly what’s beneath the ocean can only be guessed at.

Ekström believes the unusually pure signal could have been caused by magma sloshing about inside a chamber, or being forced through a gap in subsurface rocks.

But he’s not certain.

Nearly 10,000 Australians Flee 2,000 Km Wall Of Fire As 140 Bushfires Tear Through Queensland

Catastrophic Australia's 2,000km wall of fire force thousands to flee as 140 bushfires tear through Queensland in videos and pictures

Nearly 10,000 people have been told to flee immediately as more than 140 fast-moving blazes tear through Queensland amid the state’s bushfire crisis. Thousands of people were evacuated from communities in central Queensland after catastrophic fire conditions on Wednesday. About 140 bushfires were burning across an almost 2,000km stretch from Yungaburra, south of Cairns, to Mount French, west of the Gold Coast. QLD fires were been declared ‘catastrophic’, the highest level on the scale.

Early on Thursday, residents of two more communities – Campwin Beach and Sarina Beach south of Mackay – were woken by police and emergency text messages telling them they were in danger and to move to safety immediately. Authorities desperately urged people to leave, saying they will ‘burn to death’

QFES Assistant Commissioner Gary McCormack warned anyone who had not yet left to evacuate immediately. ‘Leaving their home is the safest option, for them and their families. They need to take advice as given,‘ he told the Nine Network on Thursday.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service said homes and lives were under threat, with firefighters struggling to have any effect on the blaze. However, favourable conditions overnight allowed firefighters to make some progress.

Roughly 8,000 people were ordered out of Gracemere, near Rockhampton, on Wednesday, with hundreds of them spending the night in an evacuation centre at the Rockhampton showgrounds. ‘People will burn to death,’ Queensland’s deputy police commissioner Bob Gee warned on Wednesday. ‘Their normal approaches probably won’t work if this situation develops the way it is predicted to develop. It is no different to a Category 5 cyclone coming through your door. If you have children with you, you need to think really hard about not losing a house, but losing the people you care most about.‘

The communities of Deepwater, Baffle Creek, Rules Beach and Oyster Creek, halfway between Gladstone and Bundaberg, remained under evacuation orders. Firefighters were brought in from interstate to deal with the crisis, which was far from over, with hot conditions expected to continue for days.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll said people must not try to return to their homes until they were told that it was safe to do so. ‘Do not be complacent, we are not through this yet,’ she said.

Human Government And Injustice

There Is No Case Against Julian Assange So Lies Take the Place of Evidence

Julian Assange is not guilty of any crime. But Washington is going to convict him anyway. Documents are being fabricated to show that Assange met inside the Ecuadoran Embassy in London with Paul Manafort and some Russians.

The logs of all visits to the Embassy have been released and show no such meetings.

This latest fabrication was dumped on the public by the Guardian, formerly a leftwing newspaper but today a MI6 asset. Luke Harding who was leaked the fake documents is either extremely gullible or himself a MI6 asset.

The purpose of the leak is to create in the public’s mind that Assange was involved in “Russiagate” along with Trump and Putin. The fact that no evidence has been found that Russiagate exists except as a made-up allegation to justify a special prosecutor to investigate President Trump has not stopped the continued use of this canard.

Washington and London are relying on the public’s insouciance to shield their shamelessness.

Julian Assange’s life has been ruined because he was a professional journalist who told the truth instead of serving as a shill for the ruling elite. Now the intention is to give him a show trial and to convict him without evidence, relying on presstitutes to spread fake evidence that a meeting that did not occur occurred and with no explanation of how such a meeting if it had actuallly occurred would constitute espionage.

Former British ambassador Craig Murry explains the shameful use of government power against an innocent person that has been unfolding under our eyes for the last six years. What is being done to Assange is as bad as any of Stalin’s show trials and is worse because it is happening in full view in front of Western Democracy.

Here is Ambassador Murray:

November 27, 2018

Assange Never Met Manafort. Luke Harding and the Guardian Publish Still More Blatant MI6 Lies

By Craig Murray

The right wing Ecuadorean government of President Moreno continues to churn out its production line of fake documents regarding Julian Assange, and channel them straight to MI6 mouthpiece Luke Harding of the Guardian.

Amazingly, more Ecuadorean Government documents have just been discovered for the Guardian, this time spy agency reports detailing visits of Paul Manafort and unspecified “Russians” to the Embassy. By a wonderful coincidence of timing, this is the day after Mueller announced that Manafort’s plea deal was over.

The problem with this latest fabrication is that Moreno had already released the visitor logs to the Mueller inquiry. Neither Manafort nor these “Russians” are in the visitor logs.

This is impossible. The visitor logs were not kept by Wikileaks, but by the very strict Ecuadorean security. Nobody was ever admitted without being entered in the logs. The procedure was very thorough. To go in, you had to submit your passport (no other type of document was accepted). A copy of your passport was taken and the passport details entered into the log. Your passport, along with your mobile phone and any other electronic equipment, was retained until you left, along with your bag and coat. I feature in the logs every time I visited.

There were no exceptions. For an exception to be made for Manafort and the “Russians” would have had to be a decision of the Government of Ecuador, not of Wikileaks, and that would be so exceptional the reason for it would surely have been noted in the now leaked supposed Ecuadorean “intelligence report” of the visits. What possible motive would the Ecuadorean government have for facilitating secret unrecorded visits by Paul Manafort? Furthermore it is impossible that the intelligence agency – who were in charge of the security – would not know the identity of these alleged “Russians”.

Previously Harding and the Guardian have published documents faked by the Moreno government regarding a diplomatic appointment to Russia for Assange of which he had no knowledge. Now they follow this up with more documents aimed to provide fictitious evidence to bolster Mueller’s pathetically failed attempt to substantiate the story that Russia deprived Hillary of the Presidency.

My friend William Binney, probably the world’s greatest expert on electronic surveillance, former Technical Director of the NSA, has stated that it is impossible the DNC servers were hacked, the technical evidence shows it was a download to a directly connected memory stick. I knew the US security services were conducting a fake investigation the moment it became clear that the FBI did not even themselves look at the DNC servers, instead accepting a report from the Clinton linked DNC “security consultants” Crowdstrike.

I would love to believe that the fact Julian has never met Manafort is bound to be established. But I fear that state control of propaganda may be such that this massive “Big Lie” will come to enter public consciousness in the same way as the non-existent Russian hack of the DNC servers.

Assange never met Manafort. The DNC emails were downloaded by an insider. Assange never even considered fleeing to Russia. Those are the facts, and I am in a position to give you a personal assurance of them.

I can also assure you that Luke Harding, the Guardian, Washington Post and New York Times have been publishing a stream of deliberate lies, in collusion with the security services.

I am not a fan of Donald Trump. But to see the partisans of the defeated candidate (and a particularly obnoxious defeated candidate) manipulate the security services and the media to create an entirely false public perception, in order to attempt to overturn the result of the US Presidential election, is the most astonishing thing I have witnessed in my lifetime.

Plainly the government of Ecuador is releasing lies about Assange to curry favour with the security establishment of the USA and UK, and to damage Assange’s support prior to expelling him from the Embassy. He will then be extradited from London to the USA on charges of espionage.

Assange is not a whistleblower or a spy – he is the greatest publisher of his age, and has done more to bring the crimes of governments to light than the mainstream media will ever be motivated to achieve. That supposedly great newspaper titles like the Guardian, New York Times and Washington Post are involved in the spreading of lies to damage Assange, and are seeking his imprisonment for publishing state secrets, is clear evidence that the idea of the “liberal media” no longer exists in the new plutocratic age. The press are not on the side of the people, they are an instrument of elite control.

Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.

Sixteen FBI Agents Raid Home of Clinton Foundation, Uranium One Whistleblower

On the morning of November 19th, sixteen FBI agents raided the Maryland home of a DOJ whistleblower who was in possession of Clinton Foundation and Uranium One documents. The whistleblower came across the devastating documents while he was working for an FBI contractor, according to the whistleblower’s lawyer.  (Note: This order was likely in the works before Jeff Sessions was fired.)

The Daily Caller exclusively reported that the whistleblower, Dennis Nathan Cain, had given these documents to Inspector General Horowitz and both the House and Senate Intel Committees.

Over a dozen FBI agents rifled through Dennis Nathan Cain’s home for over six hours even though he had already given the documents to the proper investigative channels, according to his lawyer.

The documents reveal then-FBI Director Robert Mueller failed to investigate criminal misconduct by Rosatam, the Russian nuclear firm that purchased 20% of the US’s Uranium.

The Daily Caller reported:

FBI agents raided the home of a recognized Department of Justice whistleblower who privately delivered documents pertaining to the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One to a government watchdog, according to the whistleblower’s attorney.

The Justice Department’s inspector general was informed that the documents show that federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and Rosatom, the Russian company that purchased Uranium One, a document reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation alleges.

The delivered documents also show that then-FBI Director Robert Mueller failed to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct pertaining to Rosatom and to other Russian government entities attached to Uranium One, the document reviewed by TheDCNF alleges. Mueller is now the special counsel investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

“The bureau raided my client to seize what he legally gave Congress about the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One,” the whistleblower’s lawyer, Michael Socarras, told TheDCNF, noting that he considered the FBI’s raid to be an “outrageous disregard” of whistleblower protections.

Stephanie A. Gallagher, a federal magistrate in the U.S. District Court for Baltimore, first nominated by Barack Obama, approved of the FBI raid of Cain’s home.

When the agents showed up to Cain’s home, he informed them that he was a protected whistleblower under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection and that Horowitz officially recognized his status as a whistleblower.

Cain informed the FBI agents that he had already given the House and Senate Intel Committees the classified documents but he was so frightened by the FBI agents that he immediately handed over the documents they requested.

The FBI agents then proceeded to go through his home and rummage through everything.

Cain’s lawyer says what the FBI did is an outrageous disregard of the law

The Daily Caller continued:

“I cannot believe the Bureau informed the federal magistrate who approved the search warrant that they wanted to search the home of an FBI whistleblower to seize the information that he confidentially disclosed to the IG and Congress,” Socarras told TheDCNF.

The FBI has yet to talk to Cain’s attorney despite the raid, according to Socarras.

“After the raid, and having received my name and phone number from Mr. Cain as his lawyer, an FBI agent actually called my client directly to discuss his seized electronics,” Socarras told TheDCNF. “Knowingly bypassing the lawyer of a represented client is serious misconduct.”

Prior to the Obama administration approving the very controversial deal in 2010 giving Russia 20% of America’s Uranium, the FBI had evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were involved in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering in order to benefit Vladimir Putin, reported John Solomon last October.

Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State at the same time the State Department and government agencies on the Committee on Foreign Investments UNANIMOUSLY approved the partial sale of Canadian mining company Uranium One to the Russian nuclear company Rosatom, ultimately giving Russia 20% of U.S. Uranium.

Nine shareholders in Uranium One just happened to provide more than $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation in the run-up to State Department approval.

This is more than just pay-to-play crimes; the Uranium One scandal is a national security crisis.

Obama, Hillary, Mueller, Rosenstein and the rest of the Deep Sate criminals involved are frantically trying to remove Trump from office to cover up their crimes.

Hezbollah Issues Warning Video To Israel: 'If You Dare Attack, You Will Regret It'

Hezbollah issues warning video to Israel: Attack and you will regret it

Clip that appears to show satellite imagery and locations of strategic Israeli sites comes a day after an alleged Israeli strike on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria

The Hezbollah terror group on Friday issued a warning video to Israel apparently filled with satellite images and precise map locations of strategic sites in the Jewish state, with a message: “Attack and you will regret it.”

The video comes after an alleged Israeli airstrike on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria the night before.

The video, with Hebrew subtitles, opened with Hezbollah fighters preparing to launch rockets and leader Hassan Nasrallah warning the Lebanese terror group would respond to any attack on Lebanon.

In recent years, Israel has acknowledged conducting hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, which it says were aimed at both preventing Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria and blocking the transfer of advanced munitions to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel has designated these two issues as “red lines” that it will take military action to prevent.

But it has not attacked Lebanon, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed the locations of missile sites near Beirut during his address to the United Nations earlier this year.

Israel has repeatedly warned that Iran is trying to upgrade Hezbollah’s massive rocket arsenal and improve the accuracy of the missiles.

In an apparent reference to that, the Hezbollah video showed what appeared to be satellite imagery of several strategic Israeli superimposed with targets and their  coordinates. Among the sites in the video was the IDF military headquarters in Tel Aviv, several air force bases, an oil refinery and Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona.

The video ended with the warning “If you dare attack, you will regret it.”

Also on Friday, the Syria Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said it identified several of the sites hit in what it said was an Israeli bombardment that lasted “for an hour.”

The Israeli military refused to comment on the raid, but denied a report in Russian media that an Israeli plane had been shot down. The Syrian military claimed its air defenses shot down all incoming “hostile targets” late Thursday. However, many security analysts believe Syria often falsely claims to have intercepted missiles that successfully penetrated its air defenses.

According to the director of the Syria Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, the Israeli bombardment hit two positions in the south of Damascus province, including an area believed to be an Iranian weapons depot near the capital.

Once a regular occurrence, reports of Israeli airstrikes in Syria have become increasingly rare in the past two months, after Syria accidentally shot down a Russian spy plane during an Israeli raid, which Moscow blamed on Israel.

According to Abdel Rahmn, two Israeli missiles hit al-Kiswah, where he said there are “weapons depots belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah [terrorist group] as well as Iranian forces.”

Another missile hit the area of Harfa, near the Israeli border, where there is a Syrian military base, the UK-based monitor said.

In Kisweh, “the depots that were targeted are used to temporarily store rockets until they are taken somewhere else,” Abdel Rahman said.

Alaska Quake: Footage And Photos Flood Social Media, Tsunami Warning No Longer In Effect

Footage and Photos of Alaska Earthquake Flood Social Media

Officials issued a declaration of disaster Friday, after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck just outside Anchorage, Alaska.

CNN reports the quake occurred at around 8:30 a.m. local time, about 10 miles north of the city. A series of aftershocks began minutes later, triggering a tsunami warning along the Alaskan coast. Thankfully for residents, the warning has since been canceled; however, the city is still assessing the damage caused by the quake.

"I have been here 37 years and that was the most violent earthquake I have ever felt. It was absolutely terrifying," Kristin Dossett, a resident of Palmer, Alaska, told CNN. "It shook like I have never felt anything shake before. It just didn't stop. It kept going and got louder and louder, and things just fell everywhere—everything off my dressers, off my bookcases, my kitchen cupboard. Just broken glass everywhere."

Videos and photos of the destruction have continued to flood social media. Trees were destroyed, street lamps toppled, buildings cracked, and roads collapsed.

Another look at the intense shaking during the #AlaskaEarthquakepic.twitter.com/BEiVvQnpOK

— Erik Kostrzewa (@FOX17Erik) November 30, 2018

Frightening video taken by James Easton as the #Alaskaearthquake was hitting. @CBS8pic.twitter.com/bOHZRzEmhL

— Barbara Richards (@sdbrichards) November 30, 2018

Family is safe, but that was scary! West Anchorage, Alaska #earthquakepic.twitter.com/bVs4QlmDtg

— Clay Butcher (@ClayButcher) November 30, 2018

Reports of a 7.2 #earthquake in Alaska. This picture courtesy of Josh Biersma in Anchorage. We are hopeful for the best and everyone is safe. #AlaskaEarthquake pic.twitter.com/shISpGWtTx

— Spokane Firefighters (@IAFFLocal29) November 30, 2018

About a mile from my house on Vine rd between KGB and Parks. #Alaskaearthquake #earthquake#alaska pic.twitter.com/5HnpXKGZUw

— David Ruffini (@SvrTroposphere) November 30, 2018

Terrifying video shows the moment a woman and her son braved the intense shaking in their house during the #AlaskaEarthquake this morning: https://t.co/Ix9p70xaBz We'll have all the latest on Channel 2 Action News starting at 4 p.m. pic.twitter.com/XFe7dRSoHe

— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) November 30, 2018 

7.2 earthquake here in Anchorage, Alaska. This is a video my dad took from the Minnesota exit ramp from international. 😰😰 pic.twitter.com/1yOGj3yz9q

— sarah m (@sarahh_mars) November 30, 2018

FIRST LOOK at damage from #AlaskaEarthquake. Tsunami warnings have been issued for southern coastal areas--which means tsunami waves are expected. https://t.co/YYsfBHZcr0 @KSLcom@KSL5TV @kslnewsradio #Anchorage #earthquake #Alaska pic.twitter.com/XPYYKsVFpg

— Ladd Egan (@laddegan) November 30, 2018

'Monster' earthquake shakes Anchorage, Alaska; Tsunami warning no longer in effect

Gov. Bill Walker has issued a disaster declaration in Alaska in response to Friday’s earthquake. 

The Anchorage School District has canceled classes and its buildings will be examined for potential damage and gas leaks, according to the Associated Press. 

Evacuations have taken place throughout the city as stores, buildings and homes have been impacted. Employees working in the air traffic tower at the Anchorage Airport were also evacuated, as the tower is inspected for damage.

Pictures shared on Twitter show widespread power outages already impacting areas. 

Major quake here in Anchorage. You can see power outage across much of the city. Lots of damage. #earthquake #anchoragequakepic.twitter.com/nsgeoJf579

— Don Rearden (@donrearden) November 30, 2018

For families and individuals impacted by the power outages and destruction, the weather and temperatures in the coming days will be manageable.

"The good news is that bitter cold is not expected," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist David Samuhel said. "Temperatures will actually be a little above normal... Temperatures will stay above normal for at least the next six to 10 days."

However, for the crews handling repairs and cleaning up the destruction left behind by the earthquake, smaller storm systems in the coming days may cause issues.

"While only light rain and snow is expected over the weekend, there will be strong winds," Samuhel said. "The Turnagain Arm, which is just southeast of Anchorage, could see winds of 50-60 miles per hour. Winds in Anchorage could reach 40 miles per hour. A more significant storm could bring a few inches of snow Sunday night into Monday morning."

AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski added that the limited sunlight will also hamper recovery efforts.

"The biggest obstacle is short daylight," Sosnowski said. "Crews will have to be using spotlights due to the limited daylight."

Road and bridge damage has also been reported in and around the city.

A tow truck holds a car that was pulled from on an off-ramp that collapsed during a morning earthquake on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, in Anchorage, Alaska. The driver was not injured attempting to exit Minnesota Drive at International Airport Road. Back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.0 and 5.8 rocked buildings and buckled roads Friday morning in Anchorage, prompting people to run from their offices or seek shelter under office desks, while a tsunami warning had some seeking higher ground. (AP Photo/Mike Dinneen)

The United States Geological Survey also released an aftershock forecast, warning Anchorage residents to be prepared for aftershocks and ensuing damage. "According to our forecast, over the next 1 Week there is a 4 % chance of one or more aftershocks that are larger than magnitude 7.0. It is likely that there will be smaller earthquakes over the next 1 Week, with 20 to 2,200 magnitude 3 or higher aftershocks. Magnitude 3 and above are large enough to be felt near the epicenter. The number of aftershocks will drop off over time, but a large aftershock can increase the numbers again, temporarily."

Within the first six hours following the major earthquake, the USGS reported over 60 aftershocks in the area measuring at least 2.5 on the Richter scale. 

RELATED: 
Can ants, squirrels and other animals sense when an earthquake is coming? 
Preparing in advance of a tsunami can save your life 
How powerful earthquakes can trigger deadly, destructive tsunamis 
The Ring of Fire: A guide to Earth's most powerful geological forces 
Can a cruise ship feel the impacts of tsunamis, earthquakes?

The Anchorage Police Department is operational in the city and alerted people that many roads and bridges are closed. They added that there has been major infrastructure damage across Anchorage with damage to many homes and buildings. 

7.0 Quake In Alaska Brings Significant Damage, Chaos - Seismologists Predict More Aftershocks In Coming Weeks

7.0 Alaska quake damages roads, brings scenes of chaos

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck near Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday morning caused extensive damage to buildings and roads, sent residents scurrying for cover and triggered a tsunami warning for a time, authorities said. 

The quake struck about 8:30 a.m. local time some 10 miles northeast of Anchorage, at a depth of 21 miles, according to the US Geological Survey. The tsunami warning was later canceled. 

Social media and television news video depicted scenes of chaos, including students taking shelter under desks while sending texts from their phones, roads that had been buckled, items tumbling from grocery store shelves, hospital workers scrambling for cover, and panicked attorneys under desks as a courtroom rocked from side to side.

The quake also knocked CNN affiliate KTUU off the air. Items rained down from shelves at the station, news director Tracy Sabo told CNN's Sara Finch.

"It was absolutely terrifying," Kristin Dossett, a resident of Palmer, Alaska, told CNN. 

She said it was the most violent quake she felt in her 37 years in a region where temblors are common. One aftershock caused her piano to move a foot and half from the wall. 

"It shook like I have never felt anything shake before," Dossett said. "It just didn't stop. It kept going and got louder and louder, and things just fell everywhere — everything off my dressers, off my bookcases, my kitchen cupboard. Just broken glass everywhere."

Seismologists predict more aftershocks in coming days and weeks 

Gov. Bill Walker issued a disaster declaration, according to a post on his Facebook page.

There were no reports of fatalities or injuries so far. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District said all district students were safe. 

The US Geological Survey has reported dozens of aftershocks. The largest, registering 5.7, was located in the city of Anchorage. Seismologists predicted dozens more in the coming days and weeks.

The Anchorage Office of Emergency Management for a time urged residents to shelter in place.

The Municipal Light & Power utility reported that between 7,000 and 10,000 customers were without power. 

"I could tell this was bigger than anything I'd been in before, and it wasn't going to stop," resident Philip Peterson said.

Peterson was in a multistory building in downtown Anchorage as the structure swayed and coffee mugs fell from tables and tiles from the ceiling.

Michael West, the Alaska state seismologist, told CNN the 7.0 earthquake was felt up to 400 miles outside of Anchorage. West said damage reports across the region were beginning to arrive at the Alaska Earthquake Information Center.

The Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage was opened as a shelter for people unable to get home. 

Two of the city's main hospitals -- Alaska Regional and Providence Alaska Medical Center -- sustained damage but emergency rooms were open, according to hospital officials.

The Anchorage Police Department said in a statement that it was handling "multiple situations" and reported "major infrastructure damage" across the city.

At Ted Stevens International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration implemented a ground stop for flights. 

Four airports were closed: 

 Ted Stevens International Airport, Adak Airport, Merrill Field Airport and Fort Richardson Airport.

The FAA said the tower at Ted Stevens was evacuated at one point.

International Airport Road near Ted Stevens has been damaged, the airport said via Twitter, advising motorists to use extreme caution.

Alaska Airlines' operations at Ted Stevens were later lifted and flights started to arrive and depart from the airport, according to the airlines' website.

Blair Braverman said she was staying in a hotel with her husband when the quake hit. She grew up in California and was familiar with earthquakes "but this was next-level," she said.

"The bed started shaking, everything was shaking so dramatically," she told CNN.

"My husband sort of crawled across the room and threw himself on top of me and we crawled to the bathroom together and waited it out in the doorway and waited out the aftershocks."

Reporters at CNN affiliate KTVA described falling window panes at the station's offices. 

"The structure of the roof just collapsed," one said. "We can't even get into our studio right now. There were computers flying, cameras toppling over."