1964 Alaska Earthquake 50th Anniversary Part I

There were some things that happened in the 1960's that were not happy events.  People can think of where they were when JFK got shot, or when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.  There are many veterans who remember the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement was also changing society.  Our nation was in an upheaval in the transitioning of the 1960's.

The ground was also in upheaval.  On March 27, 1964 the state of Alaska experienced an earthquake that changed everything for many communities.  It was Good Friday, at 5:36 in the evening.  Everyone was beginning their Easter weekend.  Alaskans have always been used to earthquakes, and when this one started they weren't alarmed.  At first it was gentle, relatively-speaking.  But then it got worse.  The earthquake measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, and lasted about three minutes.  We have seen the photos, and today we know the devastation.  But can you imagine yourself, not having the 20/20 hindsight we have today, going about your evening as usual, when suddenly your house is falling apart, or your car is coming in through your living room wall?  Possibly the ground is giving way under you in a terribly huge landslide, and you're being swept along with it?  Maybe you are like me, and have been in an earthquake or two that really frightened you.  You feel like the shaking is never going to end, and you don't know what kind of damage will be in its wake.  The earthquake was bad enough, but afterwards coastal residents wondered why the water was changing characteristics, so they went out to see it, only to be swept away in a tsunami.  Would you have gone to see too?

Communities up and down the Pacific Coast were damaged from the tsunami, as far south as Crescent City, California.

In 1968 my family went to Alaska with the idea to move there.  We spent all summer traveling around to different communities all over the state.  I can remember staying in Seward for awhile.  I don't remember much about the area near the water except that it was a beach one wouldn't want to walk on, or play on.  The water was definitely not a place to swim in!  There was wood, like old tree trunks everywhere, and rusted metal.  At the time I don't think I understood what had happened there, and wouldn't have been able to take in all that had happened four years earlier.

Seward before the 1964 earthquake

Seward right after the earthquake

We didn't find a place to live that summer, so we came back to Washington, only to go back up to Alaska with more serious intentions at the beginning of the summer of 1969.  We decided to put down what-would-be shallow roots in Valdez.  This was one of the worst hit towns during the 1964 earthquake, sitting very near the epicenter, which was in Prince William Sound, where Valdez is located.  We were staying at a location eight miles out of town during that first summer in Valdez, on the only road in or out--the Richardson Highway.  Old Valdez, which was what the pre-earthquake town was known as, was four miles away.  I can recall going to Old Valdez on our bikes, or walking, and exploring to our hearts' content.  It was such a fascinating place!  The town was completely abandoned, but many buildings remained.  There was a hotel there that had old newspapers under the boardwalk in front of it, and the dates on the newspapers were from the 1890's.  One time I found a rusted hitching ring there.  Some of the earthquake damage was evident in how the buildings sat.  The old post office had steps leading up to it, and the first step was sunk entirely into the ground.  In 1969 Old Valdez was a shell of its former self, with only a few dwellings and businesses situated apart from each other amongst large grassy areas and small trees.  It felt like a town from the 1800's, not like a town that had been populated and thriving only five years before.

Valdez was heavily damaged, not only in the loss of buildings and property, but in people.  Most of the residents of the town went to the dock to see the behavior of Prince William Sound, and many got swept out to sea during the tsunamis that hit the town.  In all, 32 people lost their lives in Valdez.

The devastation in Valdez after the shaking and tsunamis

Anchorage was also heavily damaged.  Along one of the most used streets downtown, Fourth Avenue, the ground gave way and buildings collapsed.  Cars were thrown every which way.  The land alongside Fourth Avenue dropped several feet, and in an area known as Turnagain Heights 130 acres was lost in a huge landslide.  This was a residential area, and great numbers of homes were destroyed.  The infrastructure of the city was decimated for a time.  I have friends who were living in Turnagain Heights during the earthquake, and they have fascinating stories.  One friend, who now lives in another earthquake-prone state, still has a need to know where her shoes are at all times because she couldn't find her shoes during the 1964 quake and as a very young girl had to hurry outside in the devastation of that March evening barefoot.
 

4th Avenue, downtown Anchorage, after quake

The J.C. Penney store collapsed during
the earthquake

Turnagain Heights, Anchorage, after the quake

One-hundred thirty acres of Turnagain
Heights fell in a huge landslide during
the shaking





 So many communities in Alaska were so severely changed.  Kodiak saw quite a bit of damage, as well as Cordova and Whittier.  Some towns and villages were completely wiped out.

All in all, 128 lives were lost in the 1964 Alaska earthquake.  Fifteen were from the shaking itself, the rest were because of the tsunamis afterwards.

On Thursday in the second part of this discussion, I'll talk about how things have changed for some of the communities affected, and some of the things that have been improved upon because of what was learned fifty years ago.