The Great Alaska Earthquake

In this March 1964 photo released by the U.S. Geological Survey, tsunami damage is shown along the waterfront in Kodiak, Alaska.

North America's largest earthquake rattled Alaska 50 years ago, killing 15 people and creating a tsunami that killed 124 more from Alaska to California.

The magnitude 9.2 quake hit at 5:30 p.m. on Good Friday, turning soil beneath parts of Anchorage into jelly and collapsing buildings that were not engineered to withstand the force of colliding continental plates.

Anchorage, Alaska

The Government Hill Elementary School is shown destroyed by a landslide following an earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska, March 1964.

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage small business owners were going full tilt clearing salvagable items and equipment from their earthquake-ravaged stores on shattered Fourth Avenue in Alaska, in the aftermath of an earthquake, March 30, 1964.

Anchorage, Alaska

The Government Hill Elementary School is shown destroyed following an earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska, March 1964.

Anchorage, Alaska

A man looks over fissures following an earthquake in the Seward Highway at the head of Turnagain Arm near Anchorage, Alaska, March 27, 1964.

Anchorage, Alaska

With the city under martial law, soldiers patrol a downtown street in Anchorage, Alaska, March 28, 1964.

In the background is the wreckage of the five-story Penney store at Fifth Avenue and D Street.

The magnitude 9.2 quake hit at 5:30 p.m. on Good Friday, turning soil beneath parts of Anchorage into jelly and collapsing buildings that were not engineered to withstand the force of colliding continental plates.

Anchorage, Alaska

A huge crevasse is seen in the middle of a street in Anchorage, Alaska in the aftermath of an earthquake, March 28, 1964. One section of the street is several feet higher than the other.

Anchorage, Alaska

A soldier crosses Fourth Avenue, the main street in Anchorage, Alaska, a city under martial law following the devastation visited upon it by an earthquake, March 29, 1964.

The sign overhead advertises a production of the Thornton Wilder play. Buildings at right were called a total loss.

Anchorage, Alaska

The Four Seasons Apartments, a six-story lift-slab reinforced concrete building is shown cracked to the ground following an earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska.

The building was under construction, but structurally completed at the time of the quake.

Valdez, Alaska

A photographer looks over wreckage as smoke rises in the background from burning oil storage tanks in Valdez, Alaska, March 29, 1964.

The city was hit hard by the earthquake that demolished some of Alaska's most picturesque and largest cities.

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage small business owners clear salvagable items and equipment from their earthquake-ravaged stores on shattered Fourth Avenue in the aftermath of an earthquake, March 1964.

Portage, Alaska

The village of Portage, at the head of Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, flooded at high tide as a result of six feet of tectonic subsidence during the earthquake, ca.1964.

Kodiak, Alaska

Overall view of downtown Kodiak before the tsunami (upper half) and after (lower half). The waves swept in from the left.

Anchorage, Alaska

The marquee of the Denali Theater in Anchorage, subsided until it came to rest on the sidewalk in front of the theater, which was on ground not involved in the landslide, March 27, 1964.

Anchorage, Alaska

The Government Hill landslide in Anchorage tore apart an elementary school and converted the schoolyard into a jumble of fissures, scarps, and tilted and subsided blocks of broken ground, March 27, 1964.

Anchorage, Alaska

Government Hill Elementary School in Anchorage which was destroyed by the Government Hill landslide, March 27, 1964.

Kenai Peninsula

Many railroad bridges were compressed and buckled by the earthquake, March 27, 1964. This bridge on the Kenai Peninsula buckled laterally.

Kodiak, Alaska

The commercial section of the city of Kodiak following inundation by seismic sea waves, March 30, 1964. The small-boat harbor, which was in left background, contained an estimated 160 crab and salmon fishing boats when the waves struck. Tsunamis washed many vessels into the heart of Kodiak.

Portage, Alaska

Fissures in the Seward Highway near The Alaska Railroad station at Portage, March 27, 1964.

Copper River Highway

Damage to the Million Dollar Bridge on the Copper River Highway, March 27, 1964.

Anchorage, Alaska

Aerial photographs of destructive land-slides and damage in Anchorage Graben at head of L Street landslide, Anchorage, Alaska, Alaska, 1964.