As our Wildcat Basketball Team pulled out a win enroute to their eventual NCAA Tournament invite, my cell phone Earthquake Alert went off advising of an earthquake in Turkey. I recall posting on the in game thread how I hoped the damage would be limited. Unfortunately that wasn't the outcome as the reporting of the damage and lives lost increased daily thereafter.
The same was true for the Great Alaska Earthquake that occurred on March 27, 1964 as each day thereafter the reporting of casualties increased.
Today is an anniversary of the March 27, 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake, which at 9.2 magnitude [thankfully] remains the largest recorded in North America. Its 4 and one half minutes of shaking made it one of the longest duration as well. Only one other earthquake in recorded history on our planet was larger, the 9.5 earthquake in Chile in 1960.
At the time of the Earthquake I had been home alone with my baby sister. I was sitting at a kitchen table just under a large china cabinet doing my homework. It sounded like the roof was going to collapse so I went down a tiled cement hallway to reach her room. The hallway floor was rolling as if it was rubber and I had to brace myself against the walls. When I returned with her to exit the house I noticed that the cabinet above where I had been sitting had opened and broken shards of china were all over the area.
Once outside, and just after the shaking had stopped, I climbed up on top of the roof of my house to see if there was any visible damage looking downtown. When I saw a distant hotel tower still standing I erroneously assumed that it must not have been that big of a deal after all.
In the days following I helped out as an Explorer Boy Scout to deliver Ham Radio messages that were being received by Alaska's Civil Defense Center and at that time saw (and was able to photograph as seen below) some of the devastation as we were allowed into areas that the National Guard had blocked off from the public. )
Below are photos I took in the following days depicting the destruction in Anchorage, Alaska.
And in somewhat keeping this thread Sports Related:
In the below photo taken by my father is pictured Olympic cross-country skier Sven Johanson's house. My dad's friend Sven saw his demolished house as he was watching the news reels when he was in Scandinavia. When he returned to Alaska I recall him telling my Dad that "the do gooders who threw out all of his trophies did more damage than the earthquake itself." (Looking at the absolute destruction of the house one has to assume he was referring to emotional damage.)
I recall having visited this home with my Dad prior to the earthquake. Apparently some of those trophies that I had seen when at his place before the earthquake - and which got damaged after the earthquake - included one from having won the North American Ski Championship for Cross Country in 1955 and a National Ski Title in 1957 along with his consecutive 1954-1959 first place wins from competing in the Mt. Marathon Ski Race which entailed skiing up and down a 3,022 foot mountain in Seward, Alaska. He last competed in that race the year prior to the earthquake at 39 years of age.
While some of his neighbors did not survive the 1964 Earthquake, his own life came to an early end as well as a result of being electrocuted some twelve years later when he was trying to repair a water pump on a place he had leased.
One of his notable achievements was to have been the first Alaskan to be named to the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame.
It was in 1960 that he was a member of the U.S. Olympic Cross Country Ski Team.
And here below is another photo taken by my dad which shows the front of the J.C. Penney building including the sidewalk on which I had stood just the night before the earthquake.
On Thursday evening prior to the next day's Good Friday earthquake I was on the pictured street placing orders for the Chicago published Polk City Directory as part of a Boy Scout/Explorer fund raising project. The slabs that fell off the J.C. Penny building in the earthquake crushed parked cars and killed one of the occupants.
An added point of trivia. The currently built 3 story J.C. Penny Building ended up reusing the elevator that was in the 4 story building as it existed at the time of the earthquake. For years it still had a 4th story elevator button that went nowhere.
And this is the J.C. Penny Building as it appears rebuilt today:
The same was true for the Great Alaska Earthquake that occurred on March 27, 1964 as each day thereafter the reporting of casualties increased.
Today is an anniversary of the March 27, 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake, which at 9.2 magnitude [thankfully] remains the largest recorded in North America. Its 4 and one half minutes of shaking made it one of the longest duration as well. Only one other earthquake in recorded history on our planet was larger, the 9.5 earthquake in Chile in 1960.
At the time of the Earthquake I had been home alone with my baby sister. I was sitting at a kitchen table just under a large china cabinet doing my homework. It sounded like the roof was going to collapse so I went down a tiled cement hallway to reach her room. The hallway floor was rolling as if it was rubber and I had to brace myself against the walls. When I returned with her to exit the house I noticed that the cabinet above where I had been sitting had opened and broken shards of china were all over the area.
Once outside, and just after the shaking had stopped, I climbed up on top of the roof of my house to see if there was any visible damage looking downtown. When I saw a distant hotel tower still standing I erroneously assumed that it must not have been that big of a deal after all.
In the days following I helped out as an Explorer Boy Scout to deliver Ham Radio messages that were being received by Alaska's Civil Defense Center and at that time saw (and was able to photograph as seen below) some of the devastation as we were allowed into areas that the National Guard had blocked off from the public. )
Below are photos I took in the following days depicting the destruction in Anchorage, Alaska.
And in somewhat keeping this thread Sports Related:
In the below photo taken by my father is pictured Olympic cross-country skier Sven Johanson's house. My dad's friend Sven saw his demolished house as he was watching the news reels when he was in Scandinavia. When he returned to Alaska I recall him telling my Dad that "the do gooders who threw out all of his trophies did more damage than the earthquake itself." (Looking at the absolute destruction of the house one has to assume he was referring to emotional damage.)
I recall having visited this home with my Dad prior to the earthquake. Apparently some of those trophies that I had seen when at his place before the earthquake - and which got damaged after the earthquake - included one from having won the North American Ski Championship for Cross Country in 1955 and a National Ski Title in 1957 along with his consecutive 1954-1959 first place wins from competing in the Mt. Marathon Ski Race which entailed skiing up and down a 3,022 foot mountain in Seward, Alaska. He last competed in that race the year prior to the earthquake at 39 years of age.
While some of his neighbors did not survive the 1964 Earthquake, his own life came to an early end as well as a result of being electrocuted some twelve years later when he was trying to repair a water pump on a place he had leased.
One of his notable achievements was to have been the first Alaskan to be named to the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame.
It was in 1960 that he was a member of the U.S. Olympic Cross Country Ski Team.
And here below is another photo taken by my dad which shows the front of the J.C. Penney building including the sidewalk on which I had stood just the night before the earthquake.
On Thursday evening prior to the next day's Good Friday earthquake I was on the pictured street placing orders for the Chicago published Polk City Directory as part of a Boy Scout/Explorer fund raising project. The slabs that fell off the J.C. Penny building in the earthquake crushed parked cars and killed one of the occupants.
An added point of trivia. The currently built 3 story J.C. Penny Building ended up reusing the elevator that was in the 4 story building as it existed at the time of the earthquake. For years it still had a 4th story elevator button that went nowhere.
And this is the J.C. Penny Building as it appears rebuilt today:
Last edited:
