1964 Alaska Earthquake Part II--Communities Today

In the fifty years that have ensued since the Good Friday quake, it is hard to tell that it ever happened in most places.  Most infrastructure and buildings have been rebuilt, often in better ways than they were before 1964.  This earthquake, along with others in various parts of the world, made it possible for engineers to see the effects on buildings, and emergency management agencies have set up ways for people to escape natural calamities.

Today, tall buildings in earthquake-prone areas are built with giant springs under their foundations so they will rock when the earth shakes, but will stay intact.  Walls are built with more structural reinforcements.  Coastal communities in the western United States, where tsunamis are more likely than in other areas, have tsunami evacuation routes, with clearly marked signs posted along the routes.  Some beach towns have sirens situated on their beaches, to alert everyone in the town if a tsunami is impending.  These are all good things that came from the bad of previous earthquakes and tsunamis.

In the early 1980's I used to work on Fourth Avenue in Anchorage for a time, and I routinely parked my car in the area near there that dropped down several feet during the 1964 quake.  Even then, less than twenty years after the earthquake occurred, there was nothing there that told of a previous catastrophic event, except the hill that I had to walk up every morning!  There were buildings on the land, the roads were the roads of any city.  Anchorage is a city that was able to completely come back.  Today, the area of Turnagain Heights that fell is called "Earthquake Park".  When I lived there, Earthquake Park was an other-worldly place of clay mounds, a few trees here and there, with dirt trails running through it all.  Now it is fully-developed, with a walking trail and large trees for the enjoyment of the residents.  One thing that I had my doubts about is that people built huge new homes on the newly formed bluff above Earthquake Park.  Great view, but how safe are they if another earthquake like the 1964 earthquake happens again?  They may be built with the newest in technology and safety, but that won't stop the bluff from giving way once more.  

Part of the Turnagain Heights neighborhood fell several feet, later becoming Earthquake Park

Earthquake Park today

 Seward has done a great job of disposing of the debris that still plagued its waterfront many years later.  Today sea otters frolic in the water and restaurants and other businesses line the shore, and the debris is gone.

Seward today

 

 

 

 

 

Valdez is probably one of the most changed places.  Because the old town was so decimated, it was decided to move the whole town to another location that was considered more safe.  Most of the buildings in the town are much more modern than their predecessors were.  When we lived there in 1969, there was not a building over two stories tall.  The roads were mostly oiled gravel roads, and the town smelled of oil everywhere you went.  It was extremely walkable, with a paved "parkstrip" through the middle.  It was a well-designed community.  Most of the roads dead-ended at the parkstrip, and the park- strip lead straight to the elementary school (which is now a community college).  No vehicles were allowed on this area.  During the time we were there, and we were only there one year, the method for transporting oil was transitioning from ships to the Alaska Pipeline.  We saw the last ship come in that was carrying oil to be distributed to faraway points, and the beginning of the Valdez Marine Terminal on the site of Old Valdez.  Where we had once gone to explore the interesting history of the area, was now inaccessible.  The remaining buildings were torn down to make way for oil storage tanks.  For me, that was a sad time, as if a part of my own history was gone.  Valdez today is still a fairly small community, but is thriving.

The Valdez Marine Terminal, on the site of Old Valdez

Valdez was relocated four miles to the west and thrives today

I mentioned on Tuesday that there was an area near Portage, south of Anchorage, that has remnants of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.  It is rather desolate and lonely, but beautiful in its own way.

Portage, south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway

As for other communities, there are many that I've never been to.  Kodiak, for instance, was heavily damaged by the quake and tsunami.  They are flourishing fifty years later.

The 1964 Good Friday earthquake, on March 27, 1964, was an event that drastically changed individuals, communities, and even the nation.  We have better ways to stay safe now.  Even though we really can't predict earthquakes any better than we could fifty years ago, we know how to prepare for them better, and how to escape tsunamis if the need arises.  I haven't been back to Alaska since the early 1980's, but I still have a great love for the state--its stark beauty, mountains that are like a mother's warm hug, and the independence of the people.  May she go another fifty years (or many, many more!) without another devastating event like the Alaska Earthquake of 1964!