Most had been killed by the tsunami waves that raked not just the coast of Alaska, but Oregon and California too. No Alaskan who survived would ever forget this day. They washed away everything in their immediate path - buildings, docks and people. In places, the waves towered as high as a 20-story building. Together, these destructive waves swept Alaska’s coastline with devastating speed and power. These unleashed more tsunamis.Įxplainer: Telling a tsunami from a seiche In bays and inlets, the quake also triggered underwater landslides. That movement generated huge and fast-moving waves in the open ocean, called tsunamis. The earthquake had uplifted large sections of seafloor. Then, as Alaska’s shaking ceased, things got worse - much worse. Geological Survey (USGS) in a recent publication. “It was so large that it caused the entire Earth to ring like a bell,” observes seismologist Tom Brocher and his colleagues from the U.S. But 50 years ago, that now infamous Alaska quake shook steadily and terrifyingly for almost five solid minutes. Most earthquakes rattle the ground for just seconds. In Valdez, the ground beneath the harbor slumped - and nearly swallowed a ship docked there. Indeed, the state averages some 60 each day - about 22,000 a year. At 5:36 p.m., the ground began shaking violently. Yet as dusk approached on this Good Friday, just two days before Easter, a major upheaval was in store. March 27, 1964, was a quiet day in Alaska.
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