Good Friday--seemed like just about any other Good Friday. The temperature was at a warm spring-like 28°F (-2°C). School was closed, many offices closed early, and many people were either home preparing for the weekend festivities or attending Good Friday services. Nobody knew the forces at work approximately 100 miles (161 km) to the east under the mountains surrounding Prince William Sound. Years of plate techtonic activity had been creating pressure along a faultline, pressure that on this day was finally to give way.
At 5:36pm Alaska time, the breaking point finally came. Unable to hold back the pressure, the fault finally slipped. For the first 10 seconds or so, the ground rocked gently. Most people weren't concerned much, for they had experienced a lot of Alaskan quakes and had learned that they were a part of life here. The gentle rocking increased, and the ground soon began to surge underfoot. Large surface waves were visible, like waves on water. Huge fissures, some up to 30 feet wide, opened and closed in the ground. Anchorage began to crumble as the shaking continued. Houses and buildings twisted and collapsed. Lamp posts fell over. Trees were uprooted. Unable to remain standing due to the seismic waves that were hurling anything and everything into the air, people clung to lamp posts, cars, and each other in an attempt to keep from being knocked down. For almost five minutes, the ground shook. When it was finally over, Anchorage was in ruins, a victim of a massive magnitude 9.2 earthquake, the second largest earthquake ever recorded in world history.
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