Chronicle Covers: The devastation in Alaska quake’s wake

Two days after the second-largest earthquake in human history, it remained impossible to measure the extent of its devastation.

The Chronicle’s front page from March 29, 1964, covers the magnitude 9.2 Alaska quake and how the natural disaster affected that state as well as the Pacific Coast.

“Ravaged by one of the greatest earthquakes of modern times, Alaskans struggled yesterday to restore vital services and dig through the widespread wreckage in search of uncounted dead and injured,” the story on The Chronicle’s front page reported.

The Governor’s Office said early in the day that the death toll from Friday night’s shock might reach 600. But a statement last night indicated that the toll might not exceed 50.”

In fact, nearly 140 people were killed.

California, which a day before had appeared spared from quake-caused tsunamis, was rocked by waves. Crescent City (Del Norte County) was inundated with floodwaters when a 20-foot wave hit after three others had done little damage.

Chronicle correspondent Elmont Waite reported from Crescent City, and his description is chilling.

“A mighty tidal wave roared out of the Pacific over this sleeping lumber and fishing town early yesterday with catastrophic results,” he wrote. “Ten persons were known dead, but authorities fear that at least two others may have been killed in the tidal wave.”

The scene in Anchorage was even more frightening.

This is Anchorage Daily Times staff writer Martin Ridner’s first-person account:

“There were about 50 of us in the supermarket when the first tremor hit. The store manager shouted at us to slow down and not to panic. Within 15 seconds, we were all out in a world gone crazy.

“Outside, we watched the two-story brick building buckle under the quake. Plate glass cracked and showered down onto the sidewalk.

“I dashed for my car and bricks fell on the hood as I pulled away from the crumbling building.

“When I arrived home, my daughter Debra was screaming. Robin, our 2-year-old, wasn’t scared.

“Our house had been heavily damaged, but was still on its foundation.

“We decided to go downtown and the two-mile drive was a terrible revelation. Every building more than one-story high in the Spenard’s Shopping Center was smashed.”

So were hundreds of others in Anchorage and across south-central Alaska.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Chronicle-Covers-The-devastation-in-Alaska-7102539.php