![]() The earthquake and ensuing tsunamis caused about $311 million in damages in 1964 (about $2.3 billion today). The Government Hill Elementary School in Anchorage was torn apart in a landslide created by the Great Alaska Earthquake. Towns such as Whittier, Alaska, were inundated by tsunami waves before the earthquake had even subsided. ![]() Of the 139 deaths attributed to this event, 124 were directly caused by the tsunamis. Though this hazardous event developed the moniker of the “Great Alaska Earthquake,” it was actually the ensuing tsunamis that did the greatest damage and took the most lives. Seiches, a sloshing of water back and forth in a small body of water, were observed as far away as Louisiana, where a number of fishing boats sank in a harbor. Transoceanic tsunami waves swept across the Pacific and reached as far away as Hawaii and Japan. Tsunamis caused loss of life, extensive flooding, and damaged harbors along the North American Pacific Northwest coast. Scientists measured a wave runup of 220 feet in the Valdez Inlet. The tsunamis created by the earthquake reached land within a few minutes of the ground shaking and engulfed some areas as much as 170 feet above sea level. This sudden displacement of the ocean floor, along with earthquake-induced landslides, generated massive local tsunamis that resulted in 70 percent of the fatalities in southern Alaska. At this boundary, the Pacific Plate slides beneath the North American Plate, causing the majority of Alaska’s earthquakes, including the 1964 earthquake.Īlaska’s continental shelf and North American plate rose over 9 meters during the earthquake. More Than Just A QuakeĮarthquakes and tsunamis can happen along any coastline, at any time of the year, but Alaska is particularly prone to them because it sits on the convergence of two tectonic plates-the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. Water mains and gas, sewer, telephone and electrical systems were all damaged or destroyed due to the landslides. Massive landslides were triggered by the quake near downtown Anchorage and several residential areas, damaging or destroying about 30 blocks of dwellings and commercial buildings. ![]() Ground failures are an effect of seismic activity in which the ground becomes very soft and acts like liquid, causing landslides, spreading, and settling. The epicenter of the Great Alaska Earthquake was about 12 miles north of Prince William Sound and 75 miles east of Anchorage.ĭue to the long duration of the earthquake, catastrophic ground failures occurred. Aftershocks from the quake continued for three weeks. The powerful tremors lasted for nearly five minutes and were felt over a large area of Alaska and in parts of the western Yukon Territory and British Columbia. The devastating 9.2 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunamis ravaged coastal communities and took over 139 lives. history struck Alaska’s Prince William Sound. local time, the largest recorded earthquake in U.S. history, tied with another Alaskan quake from 1938, according to USGS data.On Ma(UTC) at 5:36 p.m. The quake was the seventh largest in U.S. In Sand Point, which also evacuated on Wednesday night, morning checks revealed no road, harbor or dock damage, said Jordan Keeler, administrator for the community of about 1,300 people.Īccording to the USGS, the quake was followed by over 25 aftershocks in the region, with two around magnitude 6.0. "It makes it more likely that something is going to happen adjacent." "When that happens next to an area that's still locked, it increases the stress in the adjacent area," he said. That temblor appears to have helped set up Wednesday’s quake, Holtkamp said, a typical phenomenon when a big event strikes a major fault or subduction zone, he said. Holtkamp said Wednesday's earthquake was likely related to another powerful earthquake in the same area almost exactly a year ago, the Magnitude-7.6 Simeonof Island Earthquake of July 21, 2020, which struck about 45 miles (72 km) away. That particular section of the subduction zone, called the Aleutian megathrust, is a seismic hot spot, with thousands of earthquakes each year, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. Wednesday's earthquake struck along a subduction zone where the Pacific plate dives under the North American plate, Holtkamp said.
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