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The 1960's
Earthquakes
 The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964

The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.97

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    outlying, rupture, aftershocks, epicenter, tidal, seismic, controller, caption, heavily, heading, lasted, direct, damage, affected, downtown, issue
     content words:    Good Friday, Prince William Sound, North America, William Sound, Downtown Anchorage, One Alaskan, British Columbia, Crescent City, San Francisco, Great Alaskan Earthquake

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The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964
By Joyce Furstenau 		  
1     Caption: Photo showing damage in Anchorage, Alaska
 
2     On Good Friday, March 27, 1964, many people in Anchorage, Alaska were heading home and looking forward to the Easter weekend. At 5:36 P.M. an earthquake hit Prince William Sound south of Anchorage. The quake lasted nearly five minutes. The earthquake measured 8.4 on the Richter scale. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America.
 
3     The epicenter of the earthquake was just north of Prince William Sound. The rupture occurred in the ocean floor at a depth of about 15.5 miles. The shifting of the ocean floor resulted in large tsunamis. The waves reached heights of up to 70 feet. The earthquake affected an area of over one hundred thousand square miles within Alaska.

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