![]() One woman tried to stand but kept getting knocked to the ground, and he had to hold onto her so she wouldn’t be slammed into the ground repeatedly. As a lineman he noted watching the electrical distribution poles and lines as they slapped madly about. All shelving items were disgorged, the suspended ceiling started falling, and cars in the parking lot moved wildly about. ![]() He described that ground wave after ground wave of 3-ft to 4 f-ft in height rolled through the store. He was in the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in the Spenard area of Anchorage that fateful day as his wife Ann was home with their two young children. Donald Fall, a lineman for the Anchorage Municipal Light and Power at the time, said he witnessed so many unusual things first hand at one time that it is was too difficult to catalog and put to words. There was amazement and disbelief as to what one was witnessing during and immediately after the initial earthquake. Its epicenter was 6-mi east of the entrance to the College Fjord, 78-mi east of Anchorage and at a 15-mi depth, making it the second largest earthquake in recorded history behind the 9.5 Magnitude earthquake that struck Chile in 1960. The quake was felt throughout the entire state. Losses and damage from the earthquake and resulting tsunami were heavy. Over the ensuing three weeks, nine more aftershocks of that magnitude were felt and smaller aftershocks resonated throughout the next year. On the first day alone, there were 11 aftershocks of 6.0 Magnitude or greater. The Alaskan quake was felt for more than four minutes in an area nearly twice the size of Texas, although those who lived through it often felt it lasted much longer. An enormously powerful 9.2 Magnitude earthquake struck in Prince William Sound. ![]() Many in Anchorage, Valdez, Kodiak and Seward were honoring Good Friday and anticipating a pleasant Easter Sunday. March 27, 1964: It was a typical late afternoon in Alaska. Hearing these accounts was valuable mentorship for any newcomer in adjusting to the experiences of life in Alaska.Īs the 50th anniversary of the Great Alaskan Earthquake nears, while the general understanding of this historic disaster among the Alaskan populace, now numbering over 600,000, is certainly less universal, one can still find a Sourdough who lived through the earthquake willing to share their experiences during and after-and how their perspective on life changed that day and in the weeks after. The Sourdoughs would recount harrowing stories of the widely varied earthquake, which lasted several minutes and was followed by the earth throbbing with aftershocks every 50 minutes or so for an extended period. Perhaps not many in the Lower 48 really know about the profound immediate and ultimately lasting impacts this event had on America’s 49th state and the military and civilian engineering and construction communities, and the people of Alaska.Įven two decades after this disastrous earthquake struck the military and civilian communities in Alaska it was still apparent there were many people so profoundly impacted that it was among the first discussions an Alaskan newcomer or “Cheechacko” in local lingo, would usually have with a long-time resident, or “Sourdough”, as locals were categorized. For some 125,000 Alaskans, it is another memory they vividly recall on March 27, 1964: the 9.2 Magnitude earthquake that struck Alaska on Good Friday. People in New Orleans keenly remember when Hurricane Katrina changed their world, as did those at the Jersey Shore during Superstorm Sandy. 22, 1963, and the NASA Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster on Jan. For others there was the assassination of President John F. Members of the aptly named “Greatest Generation” always recalled the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. ![]() There have been instances throughout recent history that generations can point to and say “I remember exactly what I was doing at that moment.” Most Americans have the tragic events of the terrorist attacks on Sept.
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