1964 Alaska earthquake

A magnitude 9.2 megathrust earthquake struck southern Alaska on March 27, 1964. It ruptured the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates and generated destructive tsunamis.

Aleutian megathrust: The subduction-zone fault where the Pacific Plate descends beneath the North American Plate along the Aleutian arc. The earthquake released strain on this plate-boundary fault beneath southern Alaska.
Anchorage: Alaska's largest city, located near the epicenter of the 1964 earthquake. Ground failure and landslides destroyed or damaged large parts of the city.
Pacific Plate: A major tectonic plate that moves northwest and is mostly under the Pacific Ocean. Its motion toward Alaska supplied the convergence driving the earthquake.
1960 Valdivia earthquake: A magnitude 9.5 megathrust earthquake that struck southern Chile on May 22, 1960. It remains the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake, exceeding Alaska's magnitude.
Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission: An Alaska state commission that advises on reducing earthquake risks and improving preparedness. Its work addresses hazards made starkly visible by the 1964 disaster.
Subduction zone: A region where one tectonic plate sinks beneath another into Earth's mantle. Subduction drove the plate convergence and stored elastic strain before the rupture.
Valdez: An Alaskan port town devastated by a local tsunami in 1964 and later rebuilt elsewhere. The tsunami destroyed the waterfront and prompted relocation to safer ground.
North American Plate: A major tectonic plate that includes most of North America and adjoining ocean floor. The Pacific Plate subducts beneath its southern Alaskan margin.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami: A magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake off northeastern Japan that generated a catastrophic tsunami in 2011. It offers a modern comparison for the cascading impacts of a giant subduction earthquake.
Seismic microzonation: The mapping of earthquake hazards at local scales using differences in ground conditions and expected shaking. The sharply varied damage in Anchorage showed why local ground conditions matter.

Linked from 10 pages