Middle School
Worksheets
The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964
Caption: Photo showing damage in Anchorage, Alaska
On Good Friday, March 27, 1964, many people in Anchorage, Alaska, were heading home and looking forward to the Easter weekend. At 5:36 P.M. an earthquake near Prince William Sound south of Anchorage shook the area. The quake lasted nearly five minutes. The earthquake measured 9.2 on the Richter scale. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America.
The epicenter of the earthquake was just north of Prince William Sound. The rupture occurred in the ocean floor at a depth of about 15.5 miles. The shifting of the ocean floor resulted in large tsunamis. The waves reached heights of up to 70 feet. The earthquake affected an area of over one hundred thousand square miles within Alaska.
