Alaska Earthquake Research Paper

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Alaska has more earthquakes than any other region in North America and is by far the most active state in the U.S. An average of 1,000 Earthquakes (of all magnitudes) are located in Alaska each month according to Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission. In the month of March 1964, south central Alaska experienced an Earthquake that is known today as the second biggest earthquake recorded in history, after the 9.5 earthquake in Chile in 1960. This Great Alaskan earthquake took place in Prince William sound with a magnitude of 9.2, killing 139 people, and damaging $311 million worth of buildings and homes. On Friday the 27th of March, 1964 at 5:36 pm, Alaska and Canada felt an extreme amount of shaking for four minutes, and thirty-eight seconds. Anchorage sustained great destruction and damage to many sufficiently built earthquake-engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment). Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to …show more content…
At 5:12 AM, an 8.3 earthquake was felt throughout southern Oregon to south of Los Angeles and inland as far as central Nevada lasting 45 to 60 seconds. Even with this quick shaking, it has disastrous effects. The Earthquake ignited several fires around the city that burned for three days and destroyed nearly 500 city blocks. The earthquake and fires killed an estimated 3,000 people and left half of the city's 400,000 residents homeless. The major cause of loss of life and damage costs was fires and building collapse, this costed the state about $24 million from the earthquake and $350 million from the fires, according to data.gov. Thousands of businesses were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people were
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