%0 Article %J Seismological Research Letters %D 2014 %T Why the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake Matters 50 Years Later %A West, Michael E. %A Haeussler, Peter J. %A Ruppert, Natalia A. %A Freymueller, Jeffrey T. %A Commission, Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety %N 2 %P 245-251 %U https://doi.org/10.1785/0220140020 %V 85 %8 03 %1 10.1785/0220140020 %K SPECFEM3D %X In the state’s largest city, Anchorage, 100 km to the west, the initial ground motion destroyed countless buildings and utilities, and began to loosen soils underneath. Liquefaction, subsidence, and slope failures swallowed buildings and cut scarps into the urban landscape, captured in iconic postearthquake photos (Fig. 3). In Turnagain Heights, a layer of marine silts gave way, sinking a square kilometer and 75 homes.Near Kodiak Island, a second asperity combined with the first and motion along massive splay faults, to generate a tectonic tsunami that sent waves into the Pacific and back toward the Alaska coast (Fig. 4). Though Kodiak’s downtown, harbor, and commerce were destroyed, an effective evacuation effort minimized the casualties to just six. Many communities hit with local tsunamis were struck again as the tectonic tsunami, bolstered by the rising tide, wove into bays and coves over the next many hours. Farther south, the tsunami ravaged Vancouver Island and killed 10 people in Crescent City, California. Of the earthquake’s 131 fatalities, 119 were due to local and tectonic tsunamis. The fact that school was out for Good Friday undoubtedly limited the death toll.