1964 Alaska Earthquake

-this earthquake was a Subduction Zone Earthquake, or a Megathrust Earthquake
-also known as the 'Good Friday Quake', since it was on a Christian holy day
-9.2 on the Richter Scale (woah)
-currently the 4th largest earthquake ever recorded by seismograph
-there were 3 Major earthquakes in the 1960s:
-1st: 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile, 9.5 on the richter scale. Largest ever earthquake by magnitude
-2nd: 1964 Alaska Earthquake
-3rd: Rat Islands, Alaska. Measured 8.7 on the richter scale. 8th largest earthquake by magnitude.
-this earthquake had affected people all the way in Oregon and California!
-it had lasted for five minutes

At 5:36 p.m, Alaska Standard time, people were travelling home on a late-winter evening. Then, a fault between the Pacific and North American plates rupturednear College Fjord, in Prince William Sound. The epicenter of the eartquake was 12.4 miles north of Prince William Sound, 78 miles east of the Capital City, Anchorage, and 40 miles west of Valdez. The rupture occured at a depth of approximately 15.5 miles.

Shifts in the ocean floor had caused tsunamis of up to 20m high! The tsunamis had caused many of the deaths, and much of the property damage.
Large rockslides hadn't killed anyone, but had caused great property damage.
And of course, the earthquake itself had done immense amounts of property damage to Alaska and had killed a few people.

Overall, various sources indicate that 131 people had died (not that much compared to others) thanks to this earthquake.
106 people had been killed by tsunamis in Alaska, and 16 from tsunamis caused by the quake in Oregon and California! ONly 9 people had died during the earthquake itself. Property damage was estimated at over 2.08 billion USD.

Most property damage had occured in Anchorage. However, only nine people were killed here, all by the actual earthquake. Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, but downtown Anchorage was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying 'Bootlegger Cove clay' near cook inlet suffered landslide damage. Land overlooking the Ship Creek valley near the Alaska Railroad had slid, destroying many acres of buildings and city blocks in downtown Anchorage. The rest of the city was only moderately damaged.

Many other coastal towns in the Prince William Sound, Kenai Peninsula, and Kodiak Island areas, especially the major ports of Swerad, Whittier, and Kodiak were heavily damaged by a mix of seismic activity, subsidence, tsunamis before the earthquake, and/or fires caused by the earthquake.
The city of Valdez was not totally destroyed, but after three years, the town was relocated to higher ground 7km west of its orginal site. Native villages, such as Chenega and Afognak were destroyed or damaged. The earthquake also caused a cold-war era ballistic missile detection radar of Clear Air Force Station to go offline for six minutes, the only unscheduled interruption in its operational history. Near Cordova, the Million Dollar Bridge crossing the Copper River had collapsed.

In Canada, a 10.4m wave reached Prince Rupert, British Columbia, just south of the Alaska Pamhandle, approximately 3 hours after the earthquake. The tsunami then reached Tofino, on the exposed west coast of Vancouver Island, then travelled up a fjord to hit Port Alberni twice, dmageing 375 homes and washing away 55 others. Hot Springs Cove, Zeballos, and Amai also saw some damage. The total estimated damage was at 56 million USD. 12 people were kill ed by a tsunami in Crescent City, California, and 4 children were killed in Oregon coast. Other Towns along the US pacific northwest and Hawaii were also damaged. Boats were also damaged as far south as Los Angeles.

The WHOLE world vibrated as a result of this earthquake, which meant people felt tremors everywhere. Several Fishing boats were sunk in Louisiana and water sloshed in wells all the way in South Africa.
There were about 10,000 aftershocks following the main shock. Just in the first day after the earthquake, 11 major aftershocks were recorded with a magnitude of 6.0 and higher!
Only Eighteen months later did the aftershocks disappear.

Running Feet
Magnitudes released to the Media are always the moment magnitudes. This is the magnitude of the energy released during the earthquake. The 1964 Alaska Earthquake actually only registered 8.3 on the richter scale. 9.2 is the moment magnitude.