The 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake

On the day of March 27, 1964 at 5:36 p.m the ground shook the lower part of Alaska that led to a destructive chain of events. The ‘1964 Great Alaska Earthquake’ was the largest earthquake ever recorded in U.S. history and ranked second in world’s most powerful recorded earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2. This earthquake lasted for about five minutes as the Pacific plate subducted under the North American plate located under Prince William Sound, Alaska. The shaking was felt estimating to about more than 1.3 million square kilometer, residence of the surrounding areas first believed that the Soviet Union has deployed a nuclear bomb on Anchorage, approximately 74.5 miles away from the epicenter. The aftershock of this large earthquake span about