1964 Good Friday Earthquake Photo Gallery

1964 Good Friday Earthquake

A gallery of images showing the destruction caused by the second largest earthquake in recorded history.

Article by Anne Sanders

1964_Alaska_Quake_Portage_Townsite Aerial photo of Portage, Alaska townsite after the 1964 Alaska earthquake, taken near railroad siding. The townsite, and in general most land on the seaward side of the Seward Highway, was rendered unusable by 6 feet of subsidence and subsequent flooding at higher tides. Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. The Good Friday Earthquake of March 27, 1964, was the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history, and the second largest earthquake in recorded history. The magnitude 9.2 earthquake, which resulted in 131 deaths (115 in Alaska and 16 in Oregon and California), was centered in the Prince William Sound region of Southcentral Alaska.

...multiple fishing boats were sunk as far away as Louisiana.


Buildings and roads in many major cities in Alaska experienced significant damage due to landslides, avalanches, and tsunamis. The cities of Seward and Anchorage lost large portions of their waterfronts. Towns like Portage, in Turnagain Arm and Valdez, in Prince William Sound, were completely destroyed. The town of Valdez was able to relocate, while Portage was never rebuilt.
The waterfront at Seward, Alaska, a few months after the earthquake. The waterfront at Seward, Alaska, a few months after the earthquake. Photo: USGS The earthquake sent vibrations across the world. Along with tsunamis, the earthquake caused waves in isolated bodies of water such as a lakes and boat harbors, a phenomenon called a seiche. As a result, multiple fishing boats were sunk as far away as Louisiana.
"Ghost Forest" Palmer Hay Flats caused by the sinking landscape. "Ghost Forest" Palmer Hay Flats caused by the sinking landscape. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. The following is a personal account from Don Benson, a member of the Pioneers of Alaska, telling his experience during the earthquake. “During the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake, I was 12 years old and home alone. Our house was next to the old Matanuska Bridge on the Old Glenn Highway. I had just gotten home from school and was sledding. It was warm that day and I was soaking wet! I had the fireplace going to get dry in my underwear when the house started shaking. Then more shaking … so I went to the door, (we had a concrete house), like they tell you to do. I didn’t like it so I went out in the yard. The shaking slowed down and I went back into the house. And when the quake came again in about 2 ½ minutes, it got really strong! The bridge was doing a hula dance and moved about three feet in each direction. I had a collie named Prince who was scared to death and never left my side. I was never scared but hoped the shaking would stop. Five minutes was a long time for the house to shake. The earthquake broke some syrup jars so I thought I would be in trouble. My mom came home from work to check on me and that is when I found out how bad an earthquake it was! I think if the bridge would have been out, she would have cleared it as fast as she was going! My dad was at the Palmer Airport. He said the ground started shaking and he thought he was having a heart attack! So he pulled over to the side of the road, got out of the pickup and still couldn’t stand up! We had a friend at the Butte with a high frequency short wave radio so we went out to his place and contacted our relatives in the lower 48 and told them our family was fine. I remember there was a lot of construction afterwards but Palmer didn’t get as much damage as did Anchorage, Valdez and Kodiak. Behind my grandparents’ farm on the Outer Springer, there were cracks in the dirt and gravel on the (Matanuska) river that were three feet wide. The cracks would open up and a lot of people said they saw water spraying up in the air when the cracks closed.” - Excerpt from Don Benson’s story in “Life and Times of Matanuska Valley Pioneers.”
Coastal uplift in Prince William Sound. Coastal uplift in Prince William Sound. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Seldovia flooding after earthquake Seldovia flooding after earthquake. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Fourth Ave. in Anchorage after the earthquake ripped up the streets and demolished buildings. Fourth Ave. in Anchorage after the earthquake ripped up the streets and demolished buildings. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Good Friday Sea Level Change Radical changes in sea level near Valdez, Alaska following 1964 Alaska Good Friday Earthquake. Photo:  Wikimedia Commons. From the Historic C&GS Collection.
Good Friday Earthquake damage in Girdwood, Alaska - 1964. Photo: U.S. National Archives, via Wikimedia Commons
Damage along the Turnagain Arm. Damage along the Turnagain Arm. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Damage to the Government Hill School in Anchorage. Damage to the Government Hill School in Anchorage. Photo: W.R. Hansen, U.S. Geological Survey, via Wikimedia Commons.
Homes damaged in the Turnagain Heights subdivion Landslide damage in the Turnagain Heights neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska. Photo: USGS
Tsunamis caused by the Good Friday Earthquake drove a 2x6 plank through this 10-ply truck tire at Whittier, Alaska. Tsunamis caused by the Good Friday Earthquake drove a 2x6 plank through this 10-ply truck tire at Whittier, Alaska. Photo: USGS
Destruction in the harbor in Kodiak. Destruction in the harbor in Kodiak. By U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. Navy All Hands magazine July 1964, p. 10.), via Wikimedia Commons

89 comments

I was 6 when it hit. We live in Glennallen (back before they added the 2nd n). I had just come inside and wound up in the boot box by the door, that’s where I rode out the entire thing. I remember watching things falling off of shelves and seeing my father stick his foot out to stop the piano from rolling across the floor. We had to evacuate the town for fear that the tower would fall. I remember the roads were all cracked and split. I’ve been in a few shakers since but they just don’t compare.

Mike April 17, 2021

I was also 6, and my three brothers and one sister and I were watching Fireball XL5.

Vicky Delgado April 17, 2021

My older sister and her family were living in Valdez on this Good Friday. God is good.. they all survived. For us in Minnesota, it was a very long night listening to the radio and pinpointing towns and cities on an Alaska map. Finally around noon Saturday, we got a phone call that they were safe. Apparently my brother-in-law picked up the phone and somehow connected to a ham operator who put the call through. My sister and two-month old niece arrived in Minnesota a couple days later. The day still haunts those of us who are still living. But we always give thanks for keeping our family together during this time.

Janis Wilson April 17, 2021

My brothers and I were part of the very first students at Creekside Park elementary school. We lived just off Muldoon on Friend. We had moved to Big Delta just before the quake but were back in town for doctors appointments. Had just left the new Boy Scout department in the front section of J.C. Penney’s third floor, minutes before it hit, and that section came down. We all got in trouble for shaking the car in the eye Dr’s parking lot, less then a block from the big trench. We had to stay with a friend on Muldoon that night, then in one of the dorms at the University for several days because the highway to Palmer was closed and we couldn’t get home.

Mary Walker April 17, 2021

I was 6 years old and remember vividly. My Mom and I had gone to JC Penney’s earlier in the day to purchase an Easter hat. Following our trip to Penney’s we went to the commissary on Fort Richardson. When the earthquake started we were in the meat department at the back of the commissary. At first, everyone stared at each other and I remember clinging to my Mom. The fluorescent overhead lights were swinging so hard they were breaking as they hit the ceiling, I remember shards of glass falling while watching all the glass bottles of ketchup, mayo, pickles, etc. falling to the floor and breaking. Meanwhile, a man in the meat department yelled for everyone to go outside thru the back exit, unfortunately the door was locked, we watched him try to run to the front of the commissary to get the key to the door. The floor was rolling! He ran back with the key and let us outside. The earthquake was a long one and was still going strong when were finally outside. The cars in the parking lot were slowly rolling into each other as the ground was rolling like ocean waves.
When we returned to our quarters, our TV was broken, everything on shelves and in cabinets were on the flour broken. In typical Army fashion my Dad was deployed to Valdez, so my Mom and I were left on our own with no water or power. Army trucks went around the quarters delivering water and purification tablets. I don’t remember how long it took for utilities to be restored.
I don’t see many folks commenting on the aftershocks. I thought they were terrifying, sometimes just a quick jolt and other times they rocked and rolled. Directly after the earthquake the “tremors” were very close together time wise and gradually subsided.
Now I live in WA, on occasion there are earthquakes here, instinctively I look up to see if light are swinging. It never leaves you.

Julie Bishop April 17, 2021

My uncle was a ships’ mechanic and was on the docks in Valdez when the tsunami hit. He was lost that day also.

Karen Srait April 17, 2021

I was 9 years old when the Good Friday earthquake hit. We had just moved from Whittier, AK (thank heavens!). My dad was home with me, my brother and sister, while mom worked, out at the airport. We would learn later that my mom was standing in fear under the wing of an airplane and someone would suddenly push her to safety before that wing fell to the ground. We were safely home watching cartoons on TV, which was strange as we were usually scattered outside playing. I remember the roar that came, before and after. It was eerie. Then the shaking, it went on forever. We prayed the entire time for God to just make it stop…over and over “please God make it stop”…all the while watching cupboards opening and slamming shut and possessions being toppled all over. We were living at 225 E. 8th Ave…right by the cemetery and just 4 blocks from the 4th ave devastation. It’s a parking lot now. Our house only had a few cracks in the walls, out side of all the things that toppled over from the incessant shaking, it was minimal damage. Growing up in Whittier, I remember tremors all the time and they never scared me. But, after ‘64, it doesn’t take much to move me to cower in a doorway. As soon as the quake stopped, my dad gathered us and we left for my uncles home, not too far from where we lived. I remember picking up a porcelain cat nicknack, that had fallen off the window ledge onto the floor, and I carried that thing the rest of the day.

Janet L Dixon (Kukowski) April 17, 2021

I lived on Elmendorf FAB and on this day, we were home from school because it was good Friday. When the Quake started, I remember giggling because that’s what we usually did. But this time the shaking got worse and didn’t stop as usual. We started to run for the door but the cabinets were flying open and shut and dishes were flying everywhere. I remember looking out the window and saw out truck and camper rocking back and forth. Almost tipping. It was quite an experience and one never to be forgotten.

Renee April 17, 2021

Yes, that would be awesome Donna.

Donna April 17, 2021

Oh my goodness Kathy Horst! I just have been reading through these comments, and replied to one a couple above yours, where a Michael mentions he was 6 and watching cartoons. I told him I too, was 6 and watching cartoons, and mentioned how I have always wanted to validate that, and try to find out which cartoon it was. Then after I posted my comment to his, I kept scrolling, and just found your comment mentioning WHICH cartoon! Thank you for that! My memory is clicking now!

Lori Cypher April 17, 2021

Michael Anderson, your comment, “…watching cartoons.” is the first someone else has mentioned this which validates my own memory, also at 6, when the quake struck. I lived on the corner of 11th and B. I’ve tried to validate my memory, and which cartoon it was, but haven’t been able to research that particular detail.

Lori Cypher April 17, 2021

Yes

Nicole holliday April 17, 2021

Glad I found this site. Not too many of us left. I was 10 watching fireball xl5. A few years earlier the Cuba missile crisis taught us duck and cover. The teacher told us if somebody pulled the trigger it was the end of the world. Then Russia was suspected in the Kennedy assationation in ‘63. Then March ’64. You couldn’t stand up if you wanted to. The front door flew open and Minnesota drive looked like ocean waves. Power poles flying. Sparks. Neighbors house crumbling. I was 10. It was the the end of the world…and it didn’t let up for 5 minutes.when it stopped houses were swalloed. Children died. The water wasn’t safe so we boiled snow water. Then the aftershock hit!

Jr April 17, 2021

Thank you for this Cecil. I was 13 and my brother Doug was 12. We had just returned home from school at Kodiak Elementary to the Woody Island FAA compound on the Fedair 4 shortly before the quake hit. We went to our back yards facing the channel and Long Island high up on the cliff. The houses were swaying, and one could see the shock waves from the ocean and the land.
We later found that one of the three tsunamis had come through the forest and across the flats down the hill from our housing and Station area into Elephant Lake, which was our water supply. There were a few deep crevices opened up by the lake as well. We lost our dock, and Mission Lake near there became a lagoon.
It was an insane and amazing thing to see houses from Kodiak floating by the bones of the dock and in Chiniak Bay that separated us from Kodiak. Beachcombing was interesting for some time.
All who lived through this were greatly affected by it will never forget it.

JoAnna Taff April 17, 2021

Hi, again, Brett: I just clicked on my link in these comments and it did, indeed, take me to the “Archive of 1964 Earthquake” stories. Now, remember that “Earthquake” is just one of the many categories shown for each of the stories, as Jana was trying to allow folks to search for any major item in every story. Even stories about “just” the earthquake would have many other items in it that folks might want to search for. So, I think you’ve found the right archive of stories, but know that different writers included different memories in their stories as well. Good luck! Gene

Gene Brown April 17, 2021

I can’t say for sure, Brett, why you can’t see just the earthquake stories. Perhaps now that Jana has passed away, changes are being made to the site that makes it react differently from the way it did several days ago. Here’s a thought: scroll down the left side which shows author names and then story names. Find a story that has the earthquake in it. Open that story and note at the top of the story the links that are attached to that story. Click on the ‘64 Earthquake link and that should sort out just those stories for you. That’s how I found the set of stories in the link I posted here. If that doesn’t work, then I’m afraid I don’t know how else to help. Gene

Gene Brown April 17, 2021

My uncle was on a tug approaching the Valdez dock when the earthquake hit. He told my mother he had just waved to some kids on the dock when the earthquake hit. They waved back, then a couple minutes later, disappeared.

D.Haakenson April 17, 2021

I lived on St Elias ,in a neighborhood called Turnagain By the Sea. That area took a beating, we had big pipes running across the front yards of most of the houses there. I had just turned 13, so was in 7th grade.
It was a miracle that because of Good Friday, the schools were closed, and most children were at home.

Lynn Reynolds April 17, 2021

I was 11. My family lived on Dowling Road which was a dirt road back then. We all were in the living room sitting down , ready to watch “Fireball XL-5” on TV. As we were watched the rocket lift off the launch pad in the cartoon the house started shaking hard..Dad yelled “Earthquake , Get Outside”. We all stumbled down the steps and into the front yard. The 2 cars we had were bouncing and rolling around like balls in the driveway.The trees were swaying from side to side so much so the tops were hitting the ground. It was so very hard to stand up, I was on my feet in my socks and had to put both my hands on the ground to steady myself, even then I’d fall over. It seemed like the quake lasted forever. Afterward, Dad checked the propane lines and the fuel lines going into the house for break’s and leaks only then did we go back inside. We all slept in the upstairs living room in sleeping bags that night. I remember waking often to after shocks and the smell of sulfur

Bert Gordon April 17, 2021

Thanks for the link! However, I can’t seem to get a collection of only 1964 quake stories. I click on it as a category, even after using your link, and I find what only seem to be stories of more random subjects. Am I doing something wrong? I love to read stories about the quake as told by people who actually experienced it.

Brett April 17, 2021

On March, 27, 1964, I had only been in Alaska for 11 months. My husband and I left our 4 month old baby girl was with our neighbors to go to Good Friday Mass. Fr. was reading from “The Passion” when the shaking began. It shook for awhile then let up only to start again but much more violently. The church was an A frame building and the shaking was so violent the beams were twisting back and forth. Fr. couldn’t stand up and fell to his knees. I remember some people jumping over pews to get out of the church. I thought I was in as good a place as I could be because I really thought it was the end of the world!! I fell to my knees as well and stayed there praying until the shaking stopped. It wasn’t until we got home we realized how bad things were. Our neighbors and our daughter were ok but there was no water or electricity for nearly a week. Another neighbor had a fireplace so we and two other families pooled our ready to eat food, blankets, etc. and moved into their house. All the doors were kept closed and basically we all lived in one room. Water trucks came by with water daily. Of course, there were the after shocks…that were emotionally devastating. I know people who lost their loved ones and all they owned. It was so terrible! I pray there is never another one like that!

Karin Reese April 17, 2021

This is an excellent posting for both Jana and the big quake that struck Alaska.

Jan Petri Harper Haines April 17, 2021

I did not realize she passed away. I am very sorry to hear that.

Cecil April 17, 2021

Jana Nelson, the founder and driving force behind GrowingUpAnchorage (GUA), passed away earlier this month. As I was just a contributor to this wonderful site, I don’t know if it will continue on without her guidance. She did comment often that she appreciated the support of sites like Last Frontier Magazine in publishing stories that she had run on GUA.

Gene Brown April 17, 2021

I turned 6 the day before the quake. My family had just been to the bank in downtown Anchorage and signed papers on the sale of our house!. My dad went back to work at Ed’s Electric, same street that fell two stories. Mom took my sister and I to Woolworth’ s Depth. Store to shop for Easter gloves and purses for our new Easter dresses just purchased at JCPENNEYS when the quake hit. Mom grabbed us and we tried to get outside to cross the street, but the street Rose clear up in the middle when we were crossing. Mom took her high heels off and we started running to the other side. A drunken man came out of a bar and a man with a suit on came out and stood with us as the street rolled. My mom told everyone to take hands and she started praying for our safety. Didn’t realize the same street a couple blocks down had sunk so far. Amazing, still remember it like yesterday. I get out the slide projector and watch the slides every few years.

Karen April 17, 2021

Leave a comment

All comments are moderated before being published