Alaska Earthquake Today

Alaska earthquake occurred on March 28, 1964 in a good friday. The strength of the earthquake was listed as the second largest in the world, which discharged a mega thrust 9.2 magnitude on the Richter scale. The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 25 kilometers to the ground surface included for quite close (shallow focus). This earthquake resulted in a tsunami. Most casualties of the tsunami were in Alaska and Oregon as many as 113 and this earthquake itself brought in 15 fatalities. Epicenter of the earthquake was 20 kilometers north of Prince William Sound, 125 kilometers east of Anchorage and 64 kilometers west of Valdez.

Anchorage is the most affected region because many lived in this area. There were many commercial and residential buildings to be damaged in the downtown area. One of the places in Anchorage was Portage affected and submerged about 6 feet by seawater. The former was a small town now only a dead forest, because once exposed to salt water and road intersection and rail.

Alaska is located in North America in boundary of oceanic plate and continental plate or between Pacific plate and North American plate.

This large earthquake occurred because the tectonic plates underneath moving towards one another. As a result, plate tectonics accumulate pressure long enough and because the plates continue to move and at a time when both the strength of seismic rupture will generate tremendous shock.

Alaska earthquake about 50 years ago was lasted for about 4 minutes and was equivalent to 7 magnitude earthquake as 2000 times. There were areas of about millions kilometers in total that were trembled along the earthquake subduction zone.

1964 Alaska earthquake is mega thrust earthquake that occurred in the subduction zone that Pacific plate was subducting beneath the North American plate or along the Aleutian fault with length of 3400 kilometers. This earthquake occurred after the world’s largest earthquake occurred in Chile within 1960. Alaska subduction earthquake occurred in a long trench while locked thrust fault which produced in the movement as a result of the stress that has accumulated from the plate in the outermost layer of earth moving and crashing each other.

Alaska Today
Earthquakes in Alaska occurred in a large fault system that can result in hazards such as avalanche, landslides and tsunamis.

Although casualties were not many but the experience during 1964 led researchers and scientists are more cautious and to build a future that is safer from earthquakes.

When this passed on and commemorated for 50 years since the earthquake of 1964, amounted to 9 magnitude earthquake was unlikely to happen. However the magnitude 8 earthquake can still happen.
In the Sumatra earthquake in 2004 resulted in thousands of times more deadly than the earthquake and tsunami in 1964 only resulted in minimal loss of life. Alaska was one of the places for the previous large earthquake-related research.

In the time between the two tectonic plates which are continents and oceans collided, the subduction occured when ocean plate that was carried down into the Earth’s mantle. It happened because the continental plate was able to force the oceanic plate which was less thick and more dense. The thrust fault was when movement of two plates was convergent.