History of Earthquakes in Alaska

The 1964 Good Friday Great Alaskan Earthquake was not an isolated event.
Many earthquakes have occured in Alaska in the past, and continue to occur today.
Three of these earthquakes have caused tsunamis that resulted in death and destruction all over the Pacific Ocean.(5)
Even though Hawaii is 2,200 miles to the southwest of the Alaskan Plate boundary where these earthquakes occur, is has been especially hard hit.(4)

Earthquake History
Date	Where The Earthquake Started	Where did the Tsunami Hit?	Amount of Tsunami Run Up	Other Information
May 17, 1841	Kamchatka	Hilo, Hawaii	5 meters	N/A
February 3, 1923	Kamchatka	Walakea, Hawaii	5 meters	N/A
April 1, 1946	Aleutian Islands	Wainaku, Hawaii	10 meters	159 deaths in Hawaii 5 deaths in Alaska
November 4, 1952	Kamchatka	Hilo, Hawaii	5 meters	N/A
March 9, 1957	Aleutian Islands	Hilo, Hawaii	5 meter run	Earthquake Magnitude was 8.3
July 9, 1958	Lituya Bay	Other Side of the Bay	500 meter	N/A
March 28, 1964	Prince William Sound	Crescent City, California	6 meter	119 Deaths $104 million Damage

(Bolt, 1993. p 150)

In addition to these earthquakes, which caused tsunamis, many other earthquakes have been recorded in recent history.

• In 1899 an earthquake with its center 320 kilometers (200 miles) east of the 1964 Good Friday Great Alaskan Earthquake caused 14.3 meters of uplift.(1)

Ten shallow earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 7.0 like the 1964 Good Friday Great Alaskan Earthquake have been recorded in this area between 1930 and 1979.(1)

Learn more about the 1964 Good Friday Great Alaskan Earthquake

Other sites of interest:

United States Geological Survey Report on the Alaskan quake.

Core sample evidence that earthquakes similar in magnitude have taken place in Alaska.

Alaskan earthquake history.

Credits