On March 27th, 1964 the Alaskan coast was struck with one of the world’s worst disasters. An earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2 suddenly shook Prince William Sound. Scientists were baffled for years afterward on how the earthquake occurred. In the late 70’s, it was finally discovered what was the source of this great tragedy.
The earth is made up of different layers. The topmost layer is called the crust. The crust is broken up into different pieces called plates. The crust of the earth descends and collides in an area called a subduction zone. In these zones, is where the biggest earthquakes occur. The time before the 64’ quake, the oceanic crust had been pushing under the continental crust at the rate of one and a half inches a year. During these times, a slip or gap of an inch would occur between the crusts and would produce a mega thrust earthquake. This is exactly what happened in the great 1964 earthquake.
The first shake was at exactly 5:36 pm. The tremors continued for four minutes after the original quake. Buildings everywhere collapsed from the strength of the quake. Less than five minutes after the shaking stopped, giant Tsunamis of almost 20 stories high came crashing into the Alaskan Coast. Tsunamis also occurred all the way down the Pacific coast of the U.S and even in Hawaii more tsunamis were reported.
185,000 square miles of Alaska were disrupted by the earthquake. Towns all over Alaska were completely torn up because of the ferocity of the disaster. Areas along the coast were raised up more than 30 feet, while some inland areas dropped down up to eight feet. The disaster cost the United States $2.3 billion in damage and 139 people were killed because of it.
So what was the United States’ reaction to this horrible tragedy and how was Alaska made ready for others to follow? First of all, studies were done right away to see what had occurred under the surface in the crust layer. Scientists discovered that some towns were more open to deadly quakes than others. Towns like Valdez, Seward, Girdwood, and others were completely moved to different locations on account of the earthquake. The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) was created because of the disaster to discover more on the earthquake and how Alaska could be more prepared for another quake of that magnitude. The NOAA tsunami warning centers were set up as a result of the earthquake. New building codes were put into action to further stabilize buildings in case of other earthquakes. So much was done because scientists finally realized what threat earthquakes were to Alaska.
This horrible tragedy was the second worst earthquake in the history of the world. Its power and destruction shook the world to the realization that earthquakes of that deadly magnitude can happen and will happen in the future. The United States had an excellent reaction to this catastrophe by all that they did for Alaska. They will be truly prepared now for the next time an earthquake of such power occurs on the face of this earth.
