Today, at 5:36 AKST pm (4:36 AKDST) we Mark the 60th anniversary of the 9.2 magnitude Good Friday earthquake.
131 people lost their lives here in Alaska. 16 people in California and Oregon.
$311 million dollars of damage, in 1964 money, that’s $3,087,314,110 of today’s money (adjusted for the 900% loss in value).
Valdez and Chenega were completely destroyed and a resulting Tsunami of 200 feet high was registered at Shoup Bay near the Valdez Inlet. The surge touched Canada, Hawaii, Japan, and Australia.
The quake registered seismically in nearly every state in the union with the exception of three. Seattle’s space needle wobbled.
4 year old little Dean remembers all the appliances, the wood stove and cabinet contents toppled onto the floor. He also remembers that the snow was gone, an early breakup that year. Funny the things that are left with indelible ink.
There’s still visible scars of that day on the way to Anchorage near Portage, the remnants of the trees killed when the land dropped below the water table. Time takes its toll and Alaska reclaims it’s dead. There are fewer trees standing now than when I first moved here. The little garage that was shuttered after the quake finally fell down a few years back. The landscape is healing, reminders fading. But we must remember.
Sources: History , Must Read Alaska, Oral History of Thelma Barnum & Fred Christoffersen, Dollar Times
Alaska on my mind... 