Saturday, March 27 was the 57th Anniversary of the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake that hit south-central Alaska. The 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:36 pm AST, and the earth shook for the next 4 minutes and 28 seconds. Witnesses say that the earth roared like a freight train for that entire time.
The epicenter was 78 miles from Anchorage in Prince William Sound. It was a relatively shallow quake, with a depth of roughly 15 miles. 131 people were killed due to the earthquake, with 122 of the deaths due to the resulting tsunamis.
Seward, Kodiak, Valdez, Chenega, were all hit by tsunamis. Shoup Bay was hit by the largest tsunami with a wave height of 220 feet.
In the first 24 hours after the main shaker, there were 11 aftershocks over 6.0, with another nine over the following three weeks. Thousands of aftershocks hit the area over the next year.
March 29th, 2021 at 3:40 AM
Take care!!
March 29th, 2021 at 9:30 AM
Thanks GP! I’ll do my best.
April 2nd, 2021 at 6:39 PM
Thanks for sharing this. I just posted on the same event in light of Good Friday!
April 2nd, 2021 at 7:57 PM
Thank you for stopping by and commenting. It is much appreciated.