Regarding your question about "...if Elmendorf goes down...", -----snip-----
If in a real earthquake Elmendorf was put out of action for an extended period of time, that would obviously complicate things. The nearest significant runway around would probably be in Palmer, about 40 miles north of Anchorage, which is about 6000 ft long. There are numerous other fields around the area, but they would be suitable only for smaller aircraft, though I suspect in an emergency a C-130 could get in to some of them.
Duh...sometimes I forget the obvious. Driving about the other day I happened to go by Merrill Field. This was Anchorage's first real airport. Merrill has a 4000 ft asphalt runway, which could certainly accommodate a C-130, and probably even a C-17 if required for disaster relief. Not long ago a
727 was landed at Merrill to serve as a ground training aid for UAA's aviation program.
So in the event of an earthquake, Anchorage actually has within the city limits three airports capable of handling cargo aircraft:
Ted Stevens International Airport,
Elmendorf Air Force Base, and
Merrill Field. Even when a major earthquake strikes, it is likely that at least one of these would be usable for disaster relief efforts. This is fortunate, because here in Alaska we are rather far from help if a disaster happens, and air support would be critical, especially for the initial response.
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