The Great Alaska Earthquake: Good Friday 1964. We were there. My family lived in Anchorage. We were told it registered 8.5 on the Richter scale. I understand it has been recalculated now and is listed as 9.2. The greatest number of deaths caused by this earthquake were in Crescent City, CA due to the Tsunami.
This is Turnagain Arm - it was a wealthy area of town. People literally 'rode' their houses down the hill as the clay ground liquefied from the shaking of the earthquake.
Downtown Anchorage - 4th Avenue - after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake. Can you see the people in the street? Gives you the perspective of how big the crack in the pavement is. To enlarge the picture - click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner - just above the picture.
Arial photos were taken by my Dad - Tom Van Valkenburg
The big building with the corner gone is the JC Penny building. My Dad worked there. Luckily he wasn't at work that day since we had just returned from a trip to Florida and he wasn't going to go back to work till the following Monday.
Earthquake
