50 Years Ago Today, Alaska Got Hit with a 9.2 Quake

[N2NH]

The Good Friday Alaskan earthquake of 1964 hit a 9.2, the largest North American and American quake and second largest ever recorded.

The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake and Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.[2] Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 139 deaths.[3]

Lasting nearly three minutes, it was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the second most powerful ever measured by seismograph.[4] It had a moment magnitude of 9.2, making it the second strongest earthquake in recorded history[2][5]—the strongest being the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile.[4]

The powerful earthquake produced earthquake liquefaction in the region. Ground fissures and failures caused major structural damage in several communities, much damage to property and several landslides. Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately earthquake engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones along Knik Arm. Two hundred miles southwest, some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by 30 feet (9.1 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the Seward Highway above the new high tide mark.

In Prince William Sound, Port Valdez suffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 30 people between the collapse of the Valdez city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected Whittier, Seward, Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, Oregon, and California. Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was reported from all over the earth.

1964 Alaska earthquake

[KG4CGC]

I was only 5 weeks old. Sorry.

[NQ6U]

I remember Crescent City, CA back in the mid-Seventies; it still hadn't completely recovered from the tsunami caused by the '64 Alaska quake.

[WØTKX]

A lad of 8, staying up late snacking on Easter Candy, and watching the hand me down B&W set in my room.
Big time news, interrupted the Ed Sullivan Show. The scary crazy footage came a few days later.

I remember reacting to the huge "9.2" number.

[VE7DCW]

The Alaska quake spawned a dandy tsunami that did extensive damage to the town of Port Alberni a little ways up Island from me......fun times they were..... :shock:

[kb2vxa]

You sure have a weird notion of what FUN is! (;->) Well, considering the fact that it's Alaska, every day is a fun day one way or another. I was 14 at the time and saw the same on a B&W set in the living room, I had some unusual radio gear in my room but no TV yet. Unusual yes, you don't find ham gear in the scrap heap behind a radio and TV shop or in an automobile junk yard, but you do find AM/SW radio chassis and tube type AM car radios.

[n0iu]

I was 6 years old when it happened and I swear, it wasn't my fault!!!

[PA5COR]

I was 11 going 12 and i certainly had nothing to do with it, but watched th news on then our B&W telly...

[N2NH]

I was 9. It was Good Friday and I was watching a TV show when a special report came on that we had lost contact with Alaska. Seemed like a non-story but this was during the Cold War and Alaska is close to Russia so that was big news. Then the word came about the Quake. I don't remember it being as high as a 9.2. The grainy black and white pictures showed a plane with people who left Alaska arriving in California (IIRC). They were being interviewed by reporters. Most looked like they were in shock and didn't say much. Things came in piecemeal and haphazardly.

I remember they said Lowell Thomas the newsreel announcer had died when his house was apparently swallowed up by the ground. I still like Alaska and it is beautiful, but that's worse than the Left Coast.

[W9JEF]

.



I was 24 at the time, and don't remember it at all.

Hey, --it happened in the sixties. ;)