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| Title | Earthquake damage showing house and land deformation, near Anchorage, 1964 |
| Photographer | Unknown |
| Date | 1964 |
| Notes | On verso of image: Anchorage vicinity, 1964
PH Coll 847.20 |
| Contextual Notes | The Great Alaska Earthquake that struck the Anchorage area on Good Friday, March 27, 1964 at 5:36 PM registered 8.6 on the Richter Scale, although scientists now favor a different magnitude scale for very large quakes that shows this quake as 9.2. This made it the largest quake that has hit the United States in recorded history and one of the largest known worldwide. Geologically, the effects were widespread and dramatic. Large areas were lifted up or dropped by several feet, landslides were extensive, ground failure led to large fissures in the ground, landslides into bays caused huge seiche waves locally and a tsunami caused damage thousands of miles away. Luckily, the casualties were considerably lighter than might be expected for a disaster of this magnitude. 115 deaths are attributed to the quake. This relatively low number can be attributed to the sparse population of the area and the fact that the quake occurred when most people were at home.
Downtown Anchorage was especially hard hit. Building facades crashed into the street. In some places one side of the street dropped down over 10 feet, leaving the facing buildings towering above. In places ground waves of over 3 feet high were observed. People reported feeling as if they were in ships at sea as the waves passed through. Fissures opened up as blocks of earth dropped and tilted. Underground layers of soil liquified, allowing the solider ground above to slide many feet, sometimes in solid blocks. Cliffs collapsed in huge landslides. One landslide occured under an expensive housing development overlooking Cook Inlet. Other landslides into bays near Valdez and Seward sent 35 foot waves sloshing back and forth like water in a bathtub. In Seward an oil tanker was wrenched loose from a pipeline, which erupted in flames, spreading to the nearby oil tanks. Burning oil on the water washed inland. Ships were battered against piers. [Source: The Earthquake Museum: 1964 Alaska Earthquake, http://www.olympus.net/personal/gofamily/quake/famous/1964.html] |
| Subjects (LCTGM) | Earthquakes--Alaska--Anchorage; Houses--Alaska--Anchorage; Trees--Alaska--Anchorage |
| Subjects (LCSH) | Alaska Earthquake, Alaska, 1964; Dwellings--Earthquake effects--Alaska--Anchorage |
| Location Depicted | United States--Alaska--Anchorage |
| Digital Collection | Alaska, Western Canada and United States Collection
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| Order Number | AWC0626
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| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction, inquire about permissions, or for information about prices see: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/services/reproduction-info |
| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division |
| Repository Collection | The Great Alaska Earthquake Photograph Collection. PH Coll 847 |
| Object Type | Photograph |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from a photographic print using a Microtek Scanmaker 9600XL at 100 dpi in JPEG format at compression rate 3 and resized to 768x600 ppi. 2004. |
| Restrictions | For information on permissions for use and reproductions please visit UW Libraries Special Collections Reproduction & Use page
http://content.lib.washington.edu/sc-use.html |
