1964 Alaska Earthquake, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The Earthquake that struck Alaska on Good Friday, 1964, was the second most powerful earthquake ever reported in the twentieth century.  In its wake fell buildings and villages, tsunamis surged and the grounds parted, human life was  lost and many people were displaced. The damaged not only effected much of Alaska, but also parts of Canada, Oregon, and California.  Hawaii was affected too, as it was struck by tsunamis. While it was significantly larger than the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti in January, 2010, the death toll was in the hundreds, instead of the hundred-thousands. This is probably because Haiti was more densely populated and had no building codes to ensure safe structures. Likewise, even the poorest parts of the United States are exponentially wealthier than  most of Haiti and therefore better protection was offered and there was more money to rebuild with.

Tsunami Deaths

The bulk of the casualties during this earthquake were not because of the quake itself, but because of the prolific tsunamis that rocked the Pacific. “The 1964 Alaska earthquake caused a tsunami on Northern Californian shores that claimed the lives of twelve residents of Del Norte County (Tsunami Awareness, 2010). When one looks at a map of the United States, one can see that  California and Alaska are extremely far away from eachother.  That means that the tsunamis caused by the quake traveled hundreds of miles down the coast to California, and were still powerful enough to kill a dozen people.

Likewise, Hawaii, which is even further away, was also threatened by the waves caused by the Alaskan earthquake. In fact, the next time the state would face such a large threat from an earthquake would be directly after the monster quake that rocked Chile earlier this year.

The tsunamis caused by the earthquake seemed to have effected much of the continental and non continental US, and much of the pacific.  Alaska, itself, was also effected by the tsunamis left in the wake of destruction.  Science, an academic journal stated

The 1964 Great Alaska earthquake toppled buildings in Anchorage, 120 kilometers from the epicenter, and touched off a 67-meter-high tsunami that killed 110 people. The database SeismoArchives houses recordings of the magnitude-9.2 temblor, the second largest of the 20th century, and 25 other “classic” quakes (Science, 2005).

This means that if about 130 people were killed in total by the effects of the quake, only about 20 people were not killed by the tsunami.  In this way, while the earthquake in Haiti killed hundreds of thousands of people because of falling buildings, the majority of casualties caused the 1964 Alaskan earthquake was its effects on the ocean.

Plate Tectonics

The southern region of Alaska lies on a highly active fault line, such as those that threaten California on a regular basis.  It seems that the Californian faults get more attention than those in Alaska. This again may be due to the fact that California is much more densely populated than Alaska.

The Pacific, in general is highly tectonically active. Many large earthquakes in Alaska have been caused by the Denali Fault line and the plates in the Aleutian Trench, in the Bering Sea.  Alaska is also a geothermal hot spot, as it is part of the “Ring of Fire,” a string of volcanoes throughout he pacific.  It has over 100 volcanoes to its credit.

Alaska’s 1964 earthquake was caused by a subduction zone, or a plate that was in the ocean that sunk under the continent. Because of the plate tectonics under the sea in the Aleutian Trench, which is directly off of the coast of the state, it is easy to see why such a quake would strike Alaska.

Socioeconomically Issues

It is a stereotypical misfortune that the Native populations of Alaska and most of the United States are known for their financial hardships.  Haiti, another nation known for its financial hardship, was ruined by the earthquake in January.  Now, they are barely able to rebuild without the help of foreign aid.  The desperately poor are always the most affected by natural disasters.  They usually have poorer quality homes obviously have less money to rebound with. Those who already have a difficult time making ends meet are often obliterated financially by natural destruction.

Economic hardship for Alaskan natives is evident.  Laws in Alaska have required that a certain amount of Alaskan Natives much be employed by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Likewise, the Alyeskan company donates funds to native education every year. (Colby, 2007). This financial hardship is no doubt a result of the European and American greed, as they had to all other American Natives in the country’s past. It is then, in large part, the fault of the white man that the Alaskan Natives were so dismally destroyed by the effects of the 1964.  Because of the White man, the Natives were forced to live on reservations, often maintained lower paying jobs and had tiny, underdeveloped communities.

Mitigation and Prediction

There are many obvious things that can be done to help alleviate the effects of an earthquake.  In the case of Alaska, economical welfare, better building codes and advanced warning systems.

Again, economy has nearly everything to do with how a community will survive a calamity.  Haiti would have been better off after its earthquake with proper funds allocated to rebuilding, medical care and food and water supply.  The victims of Hurricane Katrina could have been in better shape had it not been for their economic hardship.  Alaska’s poorer regions were no doubt in worse conditions as the buildings were probably of lower quality than the rest of the state.

Moreover, the building codes of today are different than they were in 1964.  Had the building codes been stricter, the poorer areas would have been in better condition. While both the rich and the poor had their homes destroyed, the stronger buildings housed the rich.

On a hopeful note, the warning systems are much more advanced than they were in 1964.  After the quake hit Chile earlier this year, Hawaiians had plenty of warning that there may have been a tsunami on its way. Technology and science today can predict when an area is due for an earthquake. However, the system is not yet perfect as the Tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in 2004 was complete unexpected.

A report in the academic journal ,  Geology stated “Knowledge of earthquake probabilities is essential for planning earthquake hazard mitigation, and valid estimation of future probabilities requires precise information on past earthquake occurrences”(Sheppard, Jacoby,1989)  The earthquakes of the past were not for naught.  They can now be used to determine when and where an earthquake may happen. As this research was published 21 years ago, imagine how much further earthquake prediction technology has come.

Scientists, according to a recent article in the New York Times, have even claimed that they knew that Haiti was due for its recent earthquake.  They even predicted that Turkey and Japan, among other countries, were next on the list for temblors.  If this data could be gathered and refined enough so that it could be used to evacuate places before a major earthquake struck.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 1964 earthquake that rocked Alaska was probably less disastrous than one would think a five-minute-long, 92. Earthquake would be. Yes, hundreds were killed and homes were destroyed and it was no doubt a tragedy, but when comparing the death toll to that of the Haitian earthquake, this one quickly falls back a few notches.

However, the damage of the 1964 quake seems to have been much more prolific.  Seeing as the Haitian earthquake seemed only to effect its own half of Hispaniola, it covered a much smaller area. As mentioned before, the Alaskan earthquake effected Hawaii and California, states that are not anywhere close to Alaska.

Socioeconomic issues always have an effect on how a community survives a natural disaster. As much of the Native population of Alaska is poor, they were not able to rebound as well as a wealthy individual in Southern California may have.

The advancement of technology is bringing humankind closer to a means by which to evacuate a community before an earthquake strikes.  Even in the 1980s, technology was able to predict when an area was due for an earthquake, based on the area’s geological history.

References

Colby, Nicole A. Bonham(2007). “Pipeline jobs promised to natives under section 29: twenty percent Native hire is the goal of Alyeska.” Alaska Business Monthly 23.9: 100+. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 May 2010.

Alaska Scenes (2000-10). Online Design. Web. 11 May 2010.

“March 23-29, 2010, AS ‘Tsunami Awareness and Preparedness Week.’ Proclamation by Govonor of State of California (23 March 2010).” States News Service. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 May 2010.

Sheppard, Paul R., and Gordon C. Jacoby (1989). “Application of tree-ring analysis to paleoseismology: two case studies.” Geology 17.3. 226+. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 May 2010.

“When the earth moved (2005).” Science 309.5739. 1307. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 May 2010.