abstract
| - The Great Alaskan Earthquake (Russ: Большое аляскинское Землетрясение/Bol'shoe Aljaskinskoe Zemletryasenie), also referred to as the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that occurred on March 27, 1964. With a magnitude of 9.2, it was the largest earthquake in Alaskan and North American history, and at the time the second strongest earthquake in recorded history. The earthquake caused ground fissures, collapsed buildings and tsunamies all around coastal Alaska, causing an estimated 77,000 deaths, in particular in the greater Aleksandrgrad area. It is cited as the single greatest disaster in Alaskan history and occurred in the nation's "Great Dark Year," as Tsar Alexander II would be assassinated only months later. Due to fissures, liquefaction and mudslides, as well as its proximity to the epicenter, the city of Aleksandrgrad suffered catastrophic damage, in particular due to its poorly engineered high rise tenements and the earthquake striking at 5:26 PM, when most people were at home or on their way home from work in the city's notoriously poorly-built mass transit subway system. Cities on Tsarevitch Sound sustained particularly heavy damage, with several cities (Seravino, Buletkin, Chugach) sinking completely, and cities such as Valdez and Kulukiya suffering extensive damage. Across the Gulf of Alaska, tsunamis and fissures caused enormous damage, in particular at Kodiak, where poorly-constructed high-rise tenements collapsed, much like in Aleksandrgrad.
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