What Is... The Great Alaska Earthquake? Good Friday Eathquake (history)

[PhxStorks 0]

I saw a TV show about Alaska and it mentioned the large number of earthquakes they have every year. I had never even heard about Alaska having earthquakes and so I thought I would research it a bit. Here's what I found:

 

Did you know...

 

The most powerful earthquake in the US's history was recorded in ALASKA? And was a 9.2!

 

It happened March 27, 1964 and is called either "The Good Friday Earthquake" or "The Great Alaska Earthquake"

 

A total of 131 people were killed. Considering how few people lived in Alaska at the time, it's no wonder there was so little Total life lost from an earthquake of that magnitute. 9 were killed in Alaska, FROM the earthquake, however 106 people were killed in other places in Alaska, from the tsunami's that were created and 16 were killed from tsunamis that happened in others states, like California.

 

Alaska now has a rule/law that states no building is allowed to be taller than 2 stories, so their "down-town" is more "sprawling" than what most people would think of as down-town. (This information is from the TV show as well as my husband who grew-up in Alaska.)

 

Alaska has about 5000 earthquakes a YEAR! That's an average of 13 a day. But since most of Alaska is uninhabited by humans, it goes mostly unreported. On average Alaska has 1 level 7 - 8 earthquake every year!

 

In more recent Alaskan Earthquake news, Alaska was hit by the strongest quake of the year in November of 2002. It was rated a magnitude 7.9 quake. No casualties, but a number of highways were damaged with foot wide cracks ripped through them.

 

Additional Information:

en.wikipedia.org

http://www.uaf.edu/

news.bbc.co.uk

[Saint_Michael 3]

just to add some more info the alaska earthquake was the biggest recorded until last year when the 9.8 hit in south asia.

[grnjd 0]

wow, i wouldn't want to live in alaska (even without the earthquakes, i mean what can you do there?). the pacific seem to have many earthquakes and tsunamis because of something about plate movement and how one part of the ocean rams into another.

[ashiezai 0]

oo ... i knew that alaska has a lot of earthquakes ... but i didnt know it's a much as 5000 times per year !!! wow ... that is a lot .... 10-20 times per day??? that is alot !!although it's not much people staying there ... but it;s still very dangerous to visit there ...

[TiKiRoKhaN 0]

I like the cold, like in Bellingham, Washington. But I cant handle freezin cold, So really, what is there to do? If I was there, man I'd go snowboarding everyday, but maybe I might fear falling into a ice crack, then die without anyone noticing. , anyways. Isnt alaska like government property, I think the upside is about living there is that you get payed money!

[BordaForx 0]

I've been to Alaska for like 6 days. Nope, didn't feel a thing.

[amhso 0]

eh, alaska is too cold for me. asia gets too humid for me....no place is perfect. in cali we get a lot of earthquakes, but not that many, and most of them are small.

[PhxStorks 0]

wow, i wouldn't want to live in alaska (even without the earthquakes, i mean what can you do there?).

ummm... they have a lot of s*x. Nope I'm not kidding here. I'm sure not EVERYONE who lives there, but my husband has told me that if a girl wasn't married by 18 or so, she already had kids anyway.

Isnt Alaska like government property, I think the upside is about living there is that you get payed money!

I've never heard they get money JUST for living there. Maybe in the old days... but the money most people get nowadays is actually from the EXXON fiasco. Alaskan residents get a "stipend" every year because of it. Not sure if it's from the government or EXXON, but my husband used to get it before he moved down here permanently. My husband actually helped with the cleanup efforts too. They also got paid good money to help. If you owned a boat, you got boo-koo bucks, just for loaning it out to them to be able to use.
Owning a fishing license in Alaska is somewhat like owning a Liquor license here in the rest of the states. They can be sold for BIG MONEY because they are so hard to get from the goverment. Like a few HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars. You can also rent them out to other people if you don't feel like fishing and still make tons of money.

Since most of the place is unihabited, and is HUGE, most earthquakes aren't even noticed by the locals. Though my husband wasn't surprised about it at all. He said you felt them, they just weren't a big deal. Now if I felt one here in AZ, I'd probably have a heart attack!