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Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission

Publications and source records attributed to Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission.

1 recordsLinked to original sources

Why the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake matters 50 years later

Spring was returning to Alaska on Friday 27 March 1964. A two‐week cold snap had just ended, and people were getting ready for the Easter weekend. At 5:36 p.m., an earthquake initiated 12 km beneath Prince William Sound, near the eastern end of what is now recognized as the Alaska‐Aleutian subduction zone. No one was expecting this earthquake that would radically alter the coastal landscape, influence the direction of science, and indelibly mark the growth of a burgeoning state.

Alaska