March 27, 1964: The Alaska Earthquake

March 27, 1964: The most powerful earthquake ever to hit North America wasn’t the 1906 San Francisco event, or any other to hit California. It was the one that struck on this date, off the coast of Seward, Alaska in Prince William Sound, at 9.2 on the Richter scale.

For comparison's sake: The one that caused the Indonesian tsunami of 2004 was also a 9.2; the San Francisco quake of 1906 was a 7.9; the San Francisco quake of 1989 was a 7.1; the Northridge (Los Angeles) quake of 1994 was a 6.7; and the one that shook up my 4th grade class in Central Jersey in 1979 was "only" a 3.8.

Six hundred miles of fault ruptured at once, releasing about 500 years of stress buildup. Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities, and considerable damage to property. Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, about 125 miles north of the epicenter, sustained a great great deal or damage, as nearly everything in the city -- houses, buildings, paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment -- was not designed with earthquakes in mind.

A total of 131 deaths have been attributed to the quake. Not all of them were in Alaska: The quake caused a tsunami that wrecked hundreds of houses on the coast of British Columbia, Canada; and people also died at Beverly Beach State Park in Oregon and in Crescent City, California.

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March 27, 1964 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. And the NBA Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Playoffs were both underway, but no games were scheduled for either on this day. So there were no scores.