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ALASKAN EARTHQUAKE

19665 min 3 sec36 shots

The film describes Alaska as a large, resource-rich state whose ports, industries, and population were growing. Spring brings the first ship in four months to Valdez, where longshoremen begin unloading cargo on March 27, 1964. Two crewmen, Fred Neumayer and Ernest Nelson, use an 8mm camera to record the harbor shortly before the earthquake begins.

The harbor water suddenly withdraws, and a huge wave lifts the ship, destroys the dock, and kills the people and animals on it. Shaky footage shows turbulent water and destruction as the earthquake and waves strike coastal communities; in Anchorage, buildings collapse, land gives way, and fires follow explosions at oil tanks. A stopped clock marks 5:36, and the closing statement calls the disaster “the worst earthquake in history.”

Provenance and rights

Original producer: Department of Defense
Collection: FedFlix / Public.Resource.Org
Original title: ALASKAN EARTHQUAKE
Date: 1966
Original link: Open on Internet Archive
Rights: public_domain