How Far We've Come

Today marks 48 years since the earth broke beneath Southcentral Alaska.  Forty-eight years since a 9.2Mm earthquake sent subdivisions sliding into the deadly waters of Cook Inlet, homes and businesses crashing to the buckling ground, and gigantic walls of water across the cities and villages of coastal Alaska and as far south as Oregon and California.

Buildings were left partially suspended in air after the ground fell out from beneath them, buildings cracked in half, and second stories were shaken apart but first floors left intact.

And people died.

I was going to post photos of that disaster.  Then, last night, I was perusing Facebook and came across a more recent photo of Anchorage.   I decided it would be a fitting photograph of Anchorage on this earthquake anniversary day.  It is, of course, only a small portion of that sprawling city.


Here it is:

The only credit I could find for this photo is Alaska.org.

The mountain across Cook Inlet is named Mt. Susitna.  It is also called The Sleeping Lady as suggested by its form.



PS:  I had a whole post written about Seward, Valdez, and other coastal cities damaged in the earthquake, but Google blog editor is going crazy today, so I am posting what has survived that craziness, not the least of which is my inability to type today.