This Week in Alaskan History: On April 1, 1946 a massive undersea earthquake off the coast of Alaska triggered a tsunami that reached as far as Hawaii. It prompted the U.S. to establish the Seismic Sea Wave Warning System just two years later.
04/01/46 Undersea Earthquake and Alaska
In the middle of the night, 13,000 feet beneath the ocean surface, a 7.4-magnitude tremor was recorded in the North Pacific. The quake triggered devastating tidal waves throughout the Pacific, particularly in Hawaii.
The tsunami hit Unimak Island shortly after the quake. An enormous wave estimated at nearly 100 feet high crashed onto the shore. Meanwhile, the wave headed toward the southern Pacific at 500 miles per hour.
04/01/46 Undersea Earthquake and Hawaii
In Hawaii, 2,400 miles south of the quake’s epicenter, Captain Wickland of the United States Navy first spotted the coming wave at about 7 a.m., four-and-a-half hours after the quake. His position on the bridge of a ship, 46 feet above sea level, put him at eye level with a “monster wave” he described as two miles long.
As the first wave came in and receded, the water in Hawaii’s Hilo Bay seemed to disappear. In the city of Hilo, a 32-foot wave devastated the town, completely destroying almost a third of the city. On other parts of the island of Hawaii, waves reached as high as 60 feet. People observed a massive wave as far away as Chile, where, 18 hours after the quake near Alaska, unusually large waves crashed ashore.
The Seismic Sea Wave Warning System
This tsunami prompted the U.S. to establish the Seismic SeaWave Warning System two years later. The system, now known as the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, uses undersea buoys throughout the ocean, in combination with seismic-activity detectors, to find possible killer waves. The warning system was used for the first time on November 4, 1952. An evacuation was successfully carried out that day, but the expected wave never materialized.
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Info Source: History.com
Photo Source: Pixabay.com
