Earthquake At Valdez: Alaska 1964 - Essay Example

Earthquake At Valdez: Alaska 1964 27th March, 1964, the day of Good Friday witnessed the largest earthquake that ever hit North America. Alaska was the subject of the devastation and the magnitude of the earthquake was recorded at 9.2 in Richter scale second only to Chile where the magnitude was 9.5. The epicentre of this infamous earthquake was only 45 miles away of Valdez and beneath 14 miles of the earth’s crust. (Valdez Convention and Visitors Bureau) Valdez was located on unstable deltaic sands, along with gravels that are extremely shaky facing any movement of earth’s crust.

This resulted in the behaviour of the sediments as liquefied particle without any capability of bearing load. Immediately a 4000 feet long and 600 feet wide part of the delta slept into Port Valdez creating a local tsunami that destroyed the structures by the water and made severe damage inland. (USC) As a whole the Alaskan Earthquake at Valdez is classified as a subduction zone or mega thrust earth quake that resulted from sinking of an oceanic plate (Pacific Plate) beneath the continental plate (North American Plate). (Mealer) Valdez was the worst affected area of Alaska.

Two bay areas were completely devastated. 31 people mostly children lost their lives apart from millions of dollars worth of property loss. Anchorage also incurred a property loss worth of US$311 millions. (Mealer) Seward, Whittier and Kachemak bay were not left in peace either. Seward accounted for eleven to thirteen deaths. In entire Alaska 115 people died majority of those (106) were owing to the tsunami. The earthquake also resulted in Alaskan property loss worth $84million (apart from Anchorage).

Along with Valdez; Shoup Bay, Chenega, Kaguyak, Odiak and Kalsin each accounted for more than one lives loss. Kodiak, Women’s bay, Whittier and Valdez also lost millions of dollars worth of property mostly in form of destroyed ports, boats, rail roads and devastated houses. The video ‘Alaskan Earthquake 1964 [AX7996a]’ shows several shots of destroyed homes. Apart from Alaska other regions were affected as well. British Columbia suffered a property loss worth of $10 million, Oregon accounted for 4 casualties with $0.

7 million worth of property loss; California lost 13 lives and incurred damage worth of $10 million. (Sokolowski) Rescue attempts and helps were initiated from Fairbanks in form of food and cloths for the hungry and tormented residents of the affected areas. The Alaskan Command was entrusted with assisting the affected population. Troops and material support were provided where that can be reached through rail road and highways. But where they were destroyed airlift was resorted to in order to provide assistance and rescue.

The rescue efforts were initiated on behalf of the military and USA air force. As an example in 21 days following the disaster affected areas received 3700000 lb of cargo through aerial transport. These efforts were backed by repeated aerial distribution of cargos in the affected areas and air lift of affected people who were still left entangled amidst debris. (National Research Council, 511; 1964 Alaska Earthquake) Following the earthquake the town of Valdez was shifted to a new site; the delta of Mineral Creek, which is more stable in terms of ground composition.

In four years from the day of disaster the new Valdez started flourishing again based on oil, fishing and tourism. However such devastation can not be easily overcome and each small tremor reminds what might wait for each Alaskans deep beneath the earth’s crust. (Valdez Convention and Visitors Bureau) References Alaskan Earthquake 1964 [AX7996a] (video), n.d., May 4, 2011 from: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8245200623980457151# 1964 Alaska Earthquake, CBC News, May 4, 2011 from: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?

id=2605083n Mealer, Tom, ALASKA, May 4, 2011 from: http://www.vibrationdata.com/earthquakes/alaska.htm National Research Council (US), The great Alaska earthquake of 1964, National Academics, 1968 Sokolowski, Thomas J. THE GREAT ALASKAN EARTHQUAKE & TSUNAMIS of 1964, Palmer Alaska, May 4, 2011 from: http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/64quake.htm Valdez Convention and Visitors Bureau, The 1964 Earthquake, 2007, May 4, 2011 from: http://valdezalaska.org/history/earthquake.html USC, The 1964 Tsunami Strikes Valdez, 1964, May 4, 2011 from: http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/alaska/1964/webpages/1964valdez.html