How do the plates move to form the earthquake?
What happens, in terms of the North American plate (where Alaska is) and the Pacific plate, the Pacific Plate goes underneath the American plate and pushes it does. Stress is accumulated there over hundreds or thousands of years. They are stuck together. One day, it snaps and the stress is released. That upward motion pushes the water up and causes the tsunami. - Elena Suleimani, Tsunami Modeler/Research Analyst
The earthquake in 1944; was the ‘quake really hard?
Oh yes, all day. Me and my cousin were hiding out by the door, bumping. - Phyllis Peterson, Kodiak Elder
I was in school in Afognak and it just shook the lights. They sent us all up the hill, into the mountains. During this other one, in ’64, my sister was going back home from the back bay where they keep their boats. The tidal wave starting coming so she turned around and went back to the mill. She says the water was right behind her; she was driving. She drove up the hill and then it stopped; she just made it. - Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
We didn’t have a chance to grab one little thing when the water came. You just try to save your life; that’s all. You got no choice. - Phyllis Peterson, Kodiak Elder
The next day, I went down the beach below our house there, found a drum of gas. And I started to pump some out. Then, they announced another one coming, so I had to just drop everything and go. And I guess a while later someone else come and get that gas out of there. - Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
What are some of the Alutiiq words for earthquake and tsunami?
Ulertuq is running away. - Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
Ulertuq. And arulauq is earthquake. - April Laktonen Counceller, Quk'rtarmiut Alutiit Language Revitalization program manager, Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository
How many aftershocks were there after the 1964 earthquake?
It shook every few minutes. - Phyllis Peterson, Kodiak Elder
Even after they took us to Anchorage, we hitch hiked on this crew, it took us 45 minutes to hitch hike down. We were riding there, and it started shaking. On 4th avenue in a bar in Anchorage, it started shaking and we run out, not waiting for anything. That area all collapsed. - Nick Alokli, Kodiak Elder
I guess [?] was coming into Ugak Island, you know the straits between Ugak island, he said it was all breakers. So he was going right up to it and taking pictures, and [it started shaking and] his legs buckled and he got all wet with his camera. His dad called and told him to get out of there. - Dennis Knagin, Kodiak Elder
Can volcanoes cause an earthquake?
The two are definitely interlinked. During an eruption, the movement of the magma will definitely cause earthquakes and sometimes it can be pretty large. Like when I showed the example of Mt. Pinatubo, that was a very large eruption. They had magnitude five earthquakes all the time. So they can definitely cause earthquakes. The big earthquakes that you feel elsewhere in Alaska - those would not be caused by volcanoes. So it would only be in the vicinity of the volcano, but yes they definitely do cause earthquakes. - Guy Tytgat, Geophysicist, Alaska Volcano Observatory