When Alaska's 4.5 Minute Earthquake Swallowed Cars Whole and Made Texas Swimming Pools Splash

On March 27, 1964, the most devastating earthquake in North American history struck Alaska with a magnitude of 9.2—the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded globally. But what makes this story particularly bizarre is that despite its catastrophic power, only 131 people died, largely because the sparsely populated state had the good fortune of experiencing its geological apocalypse on Good Friday, when most businesses were closed and people were at home. The earthquake, which lasted an astounding four and a half minutes (an eternity when the ground is actively trying to throw you off), fundamentally reshaped the Alaskan landscape in ways that defy easy comprehension. Entire sections of Anchorage's residential areas slid into Cook Inlet. One particularly unfortunate teacher named Maurice Glenn had parked his car downtown and literally watched the street split open, swallowing his vehicle whole before the earth casually sealed itself back up, entombing his automobile forever. The quake generated tsunamis that reached as far as California, Oregon, and Hawaii, with some waves measuring over 200 feet high. In the town of Valdez, the entire waterfront—docks, people, and all—simply slid into the sea and vanished. The ground in some areas rose by 38 feet, while other sections sank by 8 feet, permanently redrawing Alaska's coastline by roughly 100,000 square miles. Perhaps most unsettling: the earthquake caused water to slosh out of swimming pools in Texas and Louisiana, over 2,000 miles away, as seismic waves transformed the earth into something resembling a bowl of jelly being shaken by an irritable giant. This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.