I am a survivor ot the Alaskan Earthquake on Good Friday March 24 1964. I rode the earth quake out in a car that lasted for at least 4 1/2 ot 5 minutes long. At the time it was listed as an 8.7 quake but later was upgraded (if you can use the word upgrade) to the size of 10. the size of the Tsunami that created all the tidal waves in the past couple of years. I saw the earth roll literally, and phone poles bounce off the road, and people trying to stand up outside to get to their kids and the earth open up and buildings sink clear to the roofs, laying all night feeling the earth move beneath us. We filled our tub with water to drink. We were in the dark with the power off and just being scared that something else would happen. People were kneeling in prayer in parking lots, people watched their homes come falling in on them. We had a store too and had to ration food for the next couple of weeks, getting titnus shots, The army patrolled to keep looters out of businesses. Schools were ruined or destroyed. What really scared people was the quake that registered an 8.0 that lasted for 1 min. the following Friday. But you know we survived and lived to tell about it. There is not a lot that you can do in a quake. You can't stand and walk, Just don't panic. Turn off the gas, make sure that the family is alright. There were many fun stories that came out of that earth quake too, like the policeman who yelled to his wife to tell the kids to knock it off. That kept us laughing to lighten up the situation. You see the state of Alaska is considered on the ring of fire, which means earthquakes and volcanos. We expected these tremors all the time, at least once a year. Then the big one really hit. I sympathize with those in Wells, who have never experienced a quake of any size and to this day I still panic when I am in a building that the floor moves (upper floor of Mervyns). This time I felt the tremor and actually thought that one of my family had come home early when the door shut. I know that we can expect aftershocks. This earthquake is a little precursor to the big one that will come. Be prepared if you can and as much as you can. This part of the country will always have tremors or quakes.
