Anchorage in Anchorage Borough, Alaska — The American West (Northwest)
Tsunamis are generated by the sudden upward movement of the seafloor along the rupturing fault. These waves can travel thousands of miles and can strike low-lying coastal areas hours after an earthquake with violent force. In the Good Friday Earthquake, some areas like Anchorage were barely affected by tsunamis. Other coastal communities with different topography, like Chenega, Kodiak, Seward and Valdez suffered complete ruin. Sharing in grim destructive power are waves generated by submarine landslides along coastal areas where huge volumes of water are rapidly displaced by soil debris. These waves occur during or immediately after an earthquake and can be 30 to 50 feet in height, as high as a large tsunami wave
Valdez Valdez was nestled at the head of a scenic fjord in Prince William Sound. A thriving city of 1200 people, Valdez’s economy was based on fishing, shipping and tourism. When the Good Friday Earthquake struck at 5:36 p.m., the entire city began violently heaving, and huge fissures formed in the earth spewing mud, water and sewage 20 feet into the air.
Seward A fortunate town, Seward was one of the few ice free ports in Southcentral Alaska, and had an active economy in fishing and industry all year. Everything changed at 5:36 p.m., March 27, 1964. Forty-five seconds after the earthquake started shaking, huge slices of the Seward waterfront and harbor slid into the bay. The Standard Oil dock facility ruptured, spewing fuel everywhere. As the Standard Oil tanks overturned, they exploded and caught fire. A wall of water 30 feet high, generated by a submarine landslide, and covered in burning oil, swallowed the remaining harbor and dock area. Forty oil-filled railroad tank cars exploded in a chain reaction. As
Location. 61° 11.898′ N, 149° 58.751′ W. Marker is in Anchorage, Alaska, in Anchorage Borough. Touch for map. This marker is located in Earthquake Park on W Northern Lights Blvd. It is also accessible from the Tony Knowles Bicycle Trail. Parking is available on W Northern Lights Blvd. (N 61° 11.756 W 149° 58.578). From the parking lot, follow the paved path to the marker. Marker is in this post office area: Anchorage AK 99502, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 7 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Turnagain Heights Slide (within shouting distance of this marker); The Earth Did Quake (within shouting distance of this marker); Measuring the Magnitude of Damage (within shouting distance of this marker); Anchorage Aloft! (within shouting distance of this marker); Captain James Cook (approx. 2.9 miles away); Resolution Park 1776 / 1778 (approx. 2.9 miles away); What is this “Rock Man”? (approx. 4.3 miles away).
Also see . . .
1. Great Alaskan earthquake of 1964. Source: You Tube video (Submitted on October 8, 2013, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia.)
2. The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964. Source: Alaska Earthquake Information Center (Submitted on October 8, 2013, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia.)
3. 1964 Alaska earthquake. Source: Wikipedia (Submitted on October 8, 2013, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia.)
4. Tsunamis. Source: Wikipedia (Submitted on October 8, 2013, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia.)
Categories. • Disasters •
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. This page originally submitted on October 8, 2013, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia. This page has been viewed 591 times since then and 28 times this year. Last updated on October 27, 2013, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 8, 2013, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.