Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 59 Years Ago

The big one.



The community theater group was preparing for its performance of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” at Alaska Methodist University when the Great Alaska Earthquake occurred on at 5:36 pm on March 27, 1964.

It was a mega-thrust earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2, making it the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America and the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded worldwide.

The quake lasted approximately four and a half minutes, causing widespread destruction. The epicenter located about 75 miles east of Anchorage, but it was felt as far away as California.


U.S. Army photo of downtown Anchorage after the earthquake of March 27, 1964.
The tsunamis generated by the earthquake caused devastation, particularly in the coastal towns such as Valdez, Seward, and Kodiak. Waves as high as 100 feet were reported in some areas, and entire villages were destroyed.

People in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, 480 miles from the epicenter, could feel the quake, and in Seattle, Washington, more than 1,200 miles to the southeast of the fault rupture, the Space Needle swayed. The earthquake caused rivers, lakes, and other waterways to slosh even as far as the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

Water-level recording instruments in 47 states — every state but Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island — registered the earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Land in some areas was thrust up as high as 82 feet, particularly on a line from Kodiak through Prince William Sound. Other lands sank as much as eight feet.

“It was so large that it caused the entire Earth to ring like a bell: vibrations that were among the first of their kind ever recorded by modern instruments. The Great Alaska Earthquake spawned thousands of lesser aftershocks and hundreds of damaging landslides, submarine slumps, and other ground failures,” the USGS reported.


Fire breaks out at the Whittier fuel tanks on March 27, 1964 after the Good Friday Earthquake. USGS photo.
The earthquake caused 131 deaths, mostly due to the tsunamis, and many more were injured. 115 of the deaths were Alaskans. Another 40-50 Alaskans were hospitalized for care of severe injuries. Of the 115 who died, 110 of the death certificates mentioned drowning or boating-related. Seventy-five percent of those who died were men, 25% were women.

Most of those who died were working-age, between 25 to 34 years (18.2%). There were 19 deaths among children ages 0-4 (16.5%).

67% of deaths were white individuals, while 32% were Alaska Native people. One death was of an indeterminate race. The village of Chenega lost 23 people of the 83 who lived there. Two-thirds of the deaths were in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, and Kodiak Borough had the second-highest deaths.

The damage caused by the earthquake was estimated to be around $311 million in 1964, which is equivalent to over $2.5 billion today.


Government Hill School after the Good Friday Earthquake. USGS photo.

The Million Dollar Bridge, knocked off its pilings over the Copper River during the earthquake.


https://mustreadalaska.com/march-27-1964-the-great-alaska-earthquake/

The last home I owned in Anchorage was originally built in 1962 in the Turnagain subdivision about 1/2 mile from the bluff overlooking Cook Inlet. After the quake it was 1/2 block from the Inlet. A big one indeed.

My wife lost her Grandfather and Uncle in Chenega.

My younger' birthday. Slid down and backwards 15 to 20 feet inside of the Denali movie theater.
No more school for the year. Lived one block away from Airport Heights school. Spent the next few weeks taking wagon loads of homemade bread, moose, and other foods to the school for the people displaced bunking there. Was a terrible, and yet wonderful time to be alive back then...

Friend of ours that I was talking with last night, said she and her family narrowly missed being flattened by parts coming of the exterior wall of the JCP store.

Now that's experiencing some real Alaska history.

My wife was born and raised in Seward, they were living at five miles out of town when it hit. She moved to Nanaka Valley later that summer.

I wasn't there for the quake, but I understand Site Point, the Nike Hercules missile site out by Cook inlet had missiles knocked off the racks and were laying on the floor. They were armed nuclear missiles. After that incident the Army started putting inert plugs in the arming system to prevent an accidental explosion. The arming plugs are activated by G-force at launch. I wonder how much G-force is generated after a 7000 lb missile falls 4 feet to the ground ??

kwg

North side of Farmers loop staring at the Alaska range ....ian old couple I know/knew... they watched the ground come up and roll to them from their deck on their house they...r.i.p.. good story they told of it ...as I stood on there deck ..

We were living in a trailer house in Kenai. When it started a friend and I were playing inside. My mother yelled at us for shaking the whole house. I told her I was pretty sure we were not doing it. It quickly became clear us boys were not the problem. Later on a State of Alaska pickup came by telling everyone to head to higher ground. After that one it takes a pretty good shake for me to even raise an eyebrow.

Δ𝐩=𝐅netΔ𝑡.


Momentum = force * amount of time involved in the impulse.

So a slow crunchy landing on to fins and engine would mean low g forces, as would the drop from only 4 feet. No large value of “V” in the MV of momentum…

Was that n.m.s. on Fire Island? My dad had wired on many of them in the state. All kinds of interesting places up here during lke's and. Kennedy's terms. Filed a young man's head with wonder it did...

Amazing!

Late 2018 we traveled from Vancouver BC to San Francisco. Stopping at Crescent City we read how the downtown area was mostly destroyed by a tsunami as a result of the great Alaska earthquake of 1964. Humbled me!

There are places in Kodiak with photos of the tsunami damage. Every time i eat at the Chartroom i take a minute to look then over

Stop living in the past you old focks

SSS when you have more years behind you than left in front of you, you will change your tune dude...mb

My aunt and uncle moved up to Anchorage
just in time to be there.

I was in a 5.4 , I cannot imagine what they and everyone else experienced that day.

I wish I knew what happened to the pictures they sent to my dad. Unfortunately, dad included, they’re all dead now.

My father in law was flying a bush plane out to Kodiak when it hit. He said he had trouble finding any place to set down that wasn’t littered with the debris from boats and trees and everything else. He spent a long time helping clear landing space and then flying supplies and people as needed.

Your father was an adventurous and good man AcesNeights, obviously, the apple didn't fall far from the family tree!

KB