Q&A: Historical Tsunami Events
- How many people died in Thailand in 2004?
- I wanted to know how you got from Old Harbor to Kodiak during the Alaskan Tsunami of 1964.
- After the 1964 tsunami, how long did it take you to get from Old Harbor to Kodiak on the crab boat?
- How did you get food and shelter right after the 1964 tsunami?
- I know that Old Harbor was evacuated after the ’64 tsunami; Kodiak was evacuated to Anchorage. What about Akhiok? How was it they had to stay there? What did they do for shelter? Does anyone know?
- Did you think about the people in Akhiok during the ’64 tsunami? Did you think the water might have hit Akhiok at all?
- Have you been back to Kaguyak since the tsunami in 1964? Is there anything left there?
- Why is it that people didn’t move back to Kaguyak after the ’64 tsunami?
- I hear that in Afognak the well water was bad after the ’64 tsunami. Was that one of the reasons people didn’t go back?
- How was the crab fishing after the ’64 tsunami? Did the tsunami have an affect on it?
- Did you lose everything during the Alaskan Tsunami of 1964?
- Did the 1964 tsunami change any of the salmon streams?
- Were people afraid to go out on their boats after the 1964 tsunami?
- Have you ever gone to take a look at that memorial, out at Spruce Cape?
- When the earthquake started in 1964, did a lot of people run down to get their boats?
How many people died in Thailand in 2004?
I don’t remember the number just for Thailand, but the total number
was 283,000. - Elena Suleimani, Tsunami Modeler/Research Analyst
Return to top
I wanted to know how you got from Old Harbor to Kodiak during the Alaskan
Tsunami of 1964.
On a crab boat. - Nick Alokli, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
After the 1964 tsunami, how long did it take you to get from Old Harbor
to Kodiak on the crab boat?
8 hours or 9 hours. - Nick Alokli, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
How did you get food and shelter right after the 1964 tsunami?
We were at the base. It was cold; no heat. The next day they brought us
up to Anchorage on military planes. - Nick Alokli, Kodiak
Elder
Here in Kodiak, [Legs] cooked up a bunch of spaghetti. He used to have
spaghetti dinners at the beach. So he cooked up a big pot of spaghetti,
I don’t know how many pots but there were a lot of them. -
Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
I know that Old Harbor was evacuated after the ’64
tsunami; Kodiak was evacuated to Anchorage. What about Akhiok? How
was it they had to stay there? What did they do for shelter? Does anyone
know?
Maybe the tidal wave didn’t hit Akhiok? [They felt the earthquake,
but weren’t actually hit by the wave.] - Nick Alokli,
Kodiak Elder
Return to top
Did you think about the people in Akhiok during
the ’64 tsunami?
Did you think the water might have hit Akhiok at all?
I don’t know; it might have come up a little bit. - Phyllis Peterson,
Kodiak Elder
Well, if it came from this side it was probably kind of [softened.] -
Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
Have you been back to Kaguyak since the tsunami in 1964? Is there anything
left there?
No. I haven’t gone back to Kaguyak since ’64. I fly over it.
All you can see of where our house used to be is two Christmas trees. Nothing
else. - Phyllis Peterson, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
Why is it that people didn’t move back to Kaguyak after the ’64
tsunami?
No options I guess. The way I see it, it’s too flat. The ocean
here, and the bay here, and where our house used to be they both come
in. No other way. - Phyllis Peterson,
Kodiak Elder
Return to top
I hear that in Afognak the well water was bad after
the ’64 tsunami.
Was that one of the reasons people didn’t go back?
I don’t know. Maybe the well water in some places is bad. But they
had good water at the site I lived, running. Good water, real good water.
Nobody had pipes hooked up yet, it was all running water; you had to
run for it. - Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
How was the crab fishing after the ’64 tsunami?
Did the tsunami have an affect on it?
They were good seasons after the tsunami. We couldn’t keep up.
We had to run from here to Soldovia, different places to get crab. -
Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
Did you lose everything during the Alaskan Tsunami of 1964?
Me, no. I was set-netting then. I had just built a cabin and I thought
it was all washed away. It looked like it hadn’t washed away
from a distance. We got there in the dark. Vicki and Gloria were with
us and we started packing up stuff in the evening, and [my son] says “dad,
out house is gone.” There must have been a big wind and it blew
it away. We found our roof up on the mountain there. - Dennis Knagin,
Kodiak Elder
Return to top
Did the 1964 tsunami change any of the salmon streams?
No. Not where I fished anyhow; except Karluk. I don’t think the
tidal wave did that though, it was the storms. There was a long spit,
maybe a mile long, and it opened up in one spot, then closed up and
open up again. - Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
Return to top
Were people afraid to go out on their boats after the 1964 tsunami?
No. When you’re fishing you don’t think about that. -
Nick Alokli, Kodiak Elder
You learn. You see where
it’s safe and where it’s not
safe. You do what you have to do. - Teresa Carlson, Kodiak Community
Member
Return to top
Have you ever gone to take a look at that memorial, out at Spruce Cape?
We have streets named after those boys now. Three of them. - Dennis Knagin,
Kodiak Elder
Return to top
When the earthquake started in 1964, did a lot of people run down to
get their boats?
Yes. - Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder