THE ALAST(ANEARTHQUAI(E

{$:.ri

;:lif

A PRELIMINARY REPORT CONCERNING THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE THATSTRUCK SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA ON GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 27,1964IAND SUBSEQUENT CIVIL DEFENSE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

PREPARED BY THE OFFICE OF CIVIT DEFENSE

oFFlcE, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY o DEPARTMENT oF DEFENSE

' ,.,, - ']

**l*::}

Wu'i

&iSqi*i&ii!i*,;

MAY 1964

CONTENTS

Introduct lon

Page

1

3

4

4

ALASKA

A CLASSIC OPERATIONAL EXERCISE

ANCHOMGE EMERGENCY OPEMTIONS

Independent ActlonsEarly Damage AssessmentClvtl Defense DlrectorOfficiaL ActlonWorking RelatlonshipsCtvil Defense Headquarters and Staff . .Intervlew of Douglas Clure . .Flve-Day Operations SunrnaryCommunLcatlons .Radlo, TV StatlonsEmergency InformatLonrtrssistance by OrganlzationsAssistance by the MilitaryCD Supplles and Equlpment

13t41415

5

5

6

6

7

7

81011t2

18

192A20202l

21

EMERGENCY ITEMS IN HOI'{E STIELTER

STATE CIVIL DEFENSE

Milltary AssistanceCtvil A1r Patrol . .Emergency Cornmunications . .Emergency InformatlonVol.unteer Manpower , .

STATEI.{ENT BY GOVERNOR WILLIA}{ A. EGAN

OTHER OFTICIAL COMMENT .

26

27

25

25

26

23

FEDERAL CIVIL DEFENSE

OCD Region 8, Everett,

OFFICE OF E}IERCENCY PLANNING

Washington

CONCLUSIONS

MILITARY SUPPORT CONCEPT

16

THE ESSENCE OT CIVIL DEFENSE 29

Alaskans are

In the past,

THE AI,ASIGI{ EARTIIQUAKE

used to minor earth tremors.

one might s&y to another, ,Did you feel that?r,The dishes would rattle a bit, and the windows shake. And;:;::i:":il;r:ff.temblor might r"

"['o,,e "nJ"eh .o *.t"-Ii" ,oo,I'Iany Alaskans nor,r, however, have been through the big one.As an imperturbable o1d sourdough in the st. Mary,s Nurslng Homein Anchorage put it to sisi"r superioi gi;u";" Ellen: ,rsisrer, rrvebeen through i 1.:.?f ""..ie""t"I ii-er"Jtll'u.rt tr,i. rast one was theroughest of tem a111" -r-v

The ,shake" he was referring to was the one of Good Friday,Ltatch 27, 1964 -- one of the stroig""t "irir,i,rrk"" ever recoiJea,weighing in at 8.4 plus

"o irrl Riciter ,;;i;l- This earthquake srarredlike so many of rhe otr,eis ---riai. u *ii;-;;embling of rhe ground,The time was 5:36 p.*,,-aiu.r.. ii"oJ"ri-ir*"]',Far, far dovm in the darr< recesses of the earth some kind ofcatacLysrnic upheaval had taken place. ia"-"iie"t" rvould now be felti::r:::r:t*; ,lt;ullt""o.". ,o"" in prince wiiriu* sound, berween

As rhe firo ler r,.,,uuni I'il :;il,:=*:f:"T;i"l".tj,ni,,J':"Ti:;" ]?,,n,;::,:::.:;rocomfortabry in an easy chair, ,oaaei

"g.""rJoi rvithout concern.The vibrations built steadiry.

- They became stronger with eacrrpassing second. In a few norr"nt" L.oth husb"iJloa wife were wildlytrying to get to the front aoor aoa out of th€ house.

By norrr the shocks were so strong the hotrse was pltching and;::l'lf;".*Y'li"i,lill':.nl: ff:"lli::"";;. H;'ia r to ; ;;;";;;" l' .r,"y?a11 buillirg" in Anchorlg: y:I" swaying back and forth L0to L2 feet at the top. several buildings a10ng 4th Avenue ln theheart of the dorrntown

"ru" ".ok 20 to :O e""i-.is the ground openedup under.them. The Goveror;;; H111_ El.ementary School on a bluffinthe northeast seetion of tovsn broke in two, with half of it andpart of the playground sinking several feet.rn the Turnagain by the sea_resldential area of expensive homesln the southwest part of-townr-" t.rg"

"."aroo*of bluff overrookingKnik Arm' whlch connects wlth cook rnlet, collapsed and s1'd 30 to

50 feet dor.rn -- and some of lt out i.nto the water. llany homes

rrere carried along with the slidlng earth, md scores were com-

pletely destroYed.

schools had closed earlier in the day. Downtown bulldlngshad largely just emptied of employees and customersr 4nd many peoplewere drivlng or walking in the streets at the time. IE was snowlng,and the cold darkness-of evening had descended. The streets weresIick.

- ;

The violent earth tremors built up for approximdtely 3 mlnutes.Giant fissures, up to 6 feet wide and 100 feet tong opened and

closed in the earth. The grounil surface visibly rolled and heaved

llke waves on the sea.

This earthquake was being recorded on seismographs all aroundthe world. In fact, the shocks aTere so strong that many of theseismographs were knocked out of commlssion.

Seisrnologists estimate that as the shock waues passed throughthe United States, the surface of the earth in the Washington, D. C.

area slowly rose and fell by 2 inches, and at Houston, Texas, by4 lnehes. Tldal actl0n was created ln the Gulf of Mextco.

In a 400-foot deep well as far away ae Milwaukee, wleconsin'the water 1eve1 fluctuated L2\ feet.

In an offlce buildlng in downtorm Anchorage, a doctor was

dictating into a recorder. The tape now carrles an hlstorlc audlorecord of the sounds of the tguake up to the moment power was

knocked out all over town.

The earth movements were violent throughout south-centralAlaska. At Valdez, some 125 miLes southeagt of Anchorage, eeveralof the toldnspeople were down at the dock, fiatchlng the unloading ofthe Alaske Steamshtp Company freighter 'lchena.rl

A shbrt tlure afEer the earthquake struck, the water suddetlyrushed out of the harbor, and the freighter struck bottom. ftre ehlipitched upward when a Eidal wave srilept in toward the tgwn. The

dock sank, and the "Chena" landed on top of lt. Sevetsl fatalltieeresulted.

Other localitles hard hit were Chenega, Seward, Kodlak,tlhlttier, and Eomer. There was damage also at Portage, Cordova,Seldovia, and Patmer. Civil defense sirens warned residents on

Ifudlak to take refuge on high ground, to escaPe tidal waves.

At Valdez, civil Defense Drrector Donald wl1l1ams and stateTrooper Edwln Jones worked together to lrarn res{,dents to flee tohigh ground.

-2-

The tidal Lraves (tsunami) created by the earthquake causedthe greatest loss of llfe. They also ruptured gasollne and oilstorage tanks ln dock areas, causlng huge fires.

the tidal hreves raced down the pacific coastLlne of NorthAmerica, striking with speeial vlolenee at varLous points alongthe washington, oregon, and californib coast. Four children oi afarnily sleeplng on a beach in oregon were swept out to sda. Thlsdespite tidal-wave warnLngs that had been flashed to many points.The warnings orlginated at the H,onolulu, Hawaii, Magnetlt obser.ra-tory. There were several fatalities in crescent city, californLa,when a tldal wave followed a stream up into the elty.

rn Hawail also, eivll defense sirens warned people along theeastern coasts to seek high ground. At one location, several hundredpeople were evacuated.

Desplte the awesome extent and strength of 'the Good Frlday eartll-guake, and the destruetloa lt caused, the number of persons kilied,lnjured, and mlssing lras surprisingly low. one month after the dis-aster the offlcial eount stood at 82 known dead, and 33 mlssing andpresumed dead. Prellmlnary damage estimates were $362 milllon tothe publlc sector of the eeonomy, and $221 mtlllon to the privatesector.

rn additlon to easualtles, major results of the earthquake andseismlc Bea wavee were dLsruption oi roads, the Alaska Railioad, andcoastal port facllltles; destruction and damage to public and privatebulldings and utilitres; and dlsruptlon of the economy at both the1ocal and state leve1. This has affected the livelihood, health,educatlon, and general welfare of a large segment of the population.

rtLz1'SKA

Oue of the main reasons for the few casualties te that Ataska,the 49th and largest statE of the unlted states, 1s eparsely populated.Although the state te 5851400 equare miles in eLze -- roughly twlce theetze of rexas -- the population le only 2501000. Approximately 60percent of the buslneee llfe of the State le centered ln thoee local-ltles that were hit hard by the earthquake.

Ttre populatlon of Anchorage, largeet clty in Alaeka, l.s aneetlmated 601000. The clty is nearly 11500 miree (3 hours bycomrnercial jet) from seattle. Juneau, the state capltal, Ls abgut550 m1L-es from Anchorage, ln the narrow, southeastern archlpelago.Juneau waa unaffected by the earthquake or by ttdal actlon.

The cllmate of Alaaka ranges fronr falrly mild along thesouthern rlm (becatree of the Japan€se current) to erctlc in thelnterlor and north, comnunicatlons in the mountalnous regtons are

-3-

dLfflcult, and transportatlon fac-t,l.itles are few. There ls ooe

railroad -- frm seward through Anchorage to rakbanks -- and

there are few good hlghwaYs.

The population ls the youngest of any of the Stites. The

peopLe have a high lntelllgence level, and are vlgorous and lndl-viduallstlc. The native populatlon is made up largely of threeethnlc groups: the Aleuts, Indians, and Eski.mos, -the-peopI3 .lnAlaska Uy a"a large savor their comparative lsolatlon frm thd'rest of the worLd. fU"y refer to the other 48 States of the Con-

tlnental Unlted States as ttthe outsldett, or t'the Lower 48r'

u. s. mllltary facllitles and persoanel are prime factofs lnthe 1lfe of Alaska l- and proved to be of i.mense value tn emergencyassistance following the earthquake. ALaska is separated fromRussla by onLy a few miles of water. Because of an acute asrareneasof this iroxinity, Alaskans have paid more than passing attention tomilitary and civl1 preparedness.

Thls then was the baslc setting and sltuation in Alaska when

the memorable earthquake of tlarct. 27, L964 struck.x/ \ A CLtrssIc oPERATI0I'IAT EXERgIEE

Beeause of the extent of the earthquakers effects, and becauseof the multitude of indivtduals, organizations, and governmentalentities involved in eoergency operatlons, the Alaskan earthquakeprovided a classic operational exercise. The effects of earthshocks, tidal sraves, and fi-res -- with attendant casualties -- Pro-duced a situatlon comparable ln many ways to that whlch eould be

expected as a result of nuclear attack. Nearly alL of the elementshrere there except radloactive fallout.

AlrcBoRAGE EMERGENCY OPERAIToNS

\ I"lhen the earthquake struck, poTirer uent off almost irunediately' alL over town. The cityrs utility systems were badly damaged.

The four radio stations, tlre television stations, trro FM stattons,and the telephone system ceased to functlon. Water mains were rup-tured, necessitating closing of m:Ln valves. Gas mains were rupturedand had to be shut off at the source. The entlre city was ln darkness.Many people were trapped in houses and bulLdings. Air traf,fic controltorrcrs collapsed at the Internattonal Airport and at Elmendorf AirForce Base.

Buildings were extensively damaged at separate locations allover the city. An estimated 20 percent of the bulldings ln Anchoragesustained major structural damage. Hundreds of others suffered lightto medium darnage -- and most of. the remalnder had at Least mlnorcracks ln walls, ceillngs, floors, and fouadatlons. Concreteblock and precast concrete construction unlts apparently sustained

-4-

the most danage. Poured concrete, timber, and frame constructlonfared the best. Bulldings of good design and constructlon gener-ally made out wel1. MaJor darnage occurred where buildlngs Iadbeen constructed on hillsides, and above loose gravel, sind, orclay subsoll

MaJor damage areas were along 4th and 5th Avenues in domtownAnchorager and tn the Turnagaln and Government Hill areas.

some damage rras also sustained at El-mendorf Atr Force Base,whlch adJotns Anchorage to the northeast; and at Fort Richardsonwhich adJolns Elmendorf -- agaln to the northeast. Both bases,however, remained operational, and both were able to offer imme-dlate assistanee to the civil authoritles in Anchorage.

\ rndependent Actlons -- rndtvlduals and clty departments tookindependent actions in the lrrnediate emergency perlod for search andrescue, evacuation, security, and emergency feedlng, shelter, aodreglstration.

Many persons -- whether they had an official asstgnment ornot -- checked on the safety of their fanilies flrst, and then.returned to the duty asslgnment.

ttNearly everyone turned hero.t,

That was the prevalllng opinion ln Anchorage following theearthguake. People dldntt hesitate to search for and rescue others,or to care for victlms -- or to do everything they could for rehabil-itatlon.

Pllfering and lootlr, ,"r""eportedry nonexlgtent. There wererumora of lsolated lnstances of thls -- but none apparently werebrought to offlctal attentlon.

There was no mass panlc as a result of the earthquake.

Homeowners all over torrn turned thelr olrn homes open to otherswho were dlsplaced. Most of those who had to leave their homes werefrom the Turnagal.n residential area.

Earlv Danape Assesement -- An early damage aaeessment was made bypolicement, Mayor George sharrock, and city Manager Robert oldland.Ttre lnspections were viBual, on foot and Ln squadcars. rnspection byautomoblle.rras dlfflcult as streets were obstructed, and there wereflssures at many places. rndlvtdual citlzens also brought damageegtimates to the Public safety Buildlng at 6th Avenue and "c" street.Thls buildl-ng, whlch housei the police Department, the Fire Departmenr,aod the clvil Defenee headquarters, rras one block from the maJordamage area ln donntorm Anchorage. The bullding suffered only mlnordamage, tn the form of cracke ln the wal.ls.

-5-

Civil De:fgnse LtrecFor -- At the ti'me of the earthquake' the

city of lnctoragfrailttfio,rt a clvll Defense Director. The for:ner

Director, Douglas Clure, had resigned a month earller -- to take

care of prlvate lnteresis -- and lhe city councll was debating

whether or not a reptacement should bE hlred' Clure had been on

a trip to CaLifornla, and had returaed to Anchorage Just one day

before the 'quake.', Despite his earller resgmption of the role of a private citizen,Douglas Clure ,.loii"a ro rhe puuttc Safety Bullding soon afterdlsaster struck.'-il;;"; he worked wlth clty goverrment officlals'HLs flrst actions whlch-contLnued through the night, trelg to organ-

lze rescue and ";";;i6 teams which seaiched rulns in all parts of

the clty for aeal t"J-i":""ed, and provided Protection for hqnes

and mercantile establishments'

Offtcial Actlon -- After a few hours of emergency -oPeratlonsby clty erptoy""tffi" ,,""a-for greater coordination ind controlof the situation-i"""ru apparentl Dectslons at the Publlc Safety

Bullding by city gor"r.*"rrl offlclaLs were belng made on a more or

less informal basls. The Mayor therefore called a meeting for3 a.m., for .ff-Iiiy oiff"f"i", and for representatives of organl-

zatlons lnvolved ln emergency work' AttendLng were the Mayor'

members of the iiiy Co""Ittr-representattves-frm all- clty depart-

ments, and ."pr"""otatlves irot,-Prlvate servlce and utility com-

panies. rn aaaiiion, Lt' Gen' -Baltnond J' Reeves' cmrander-ln-

Chief, Alaska C"*,";i, attended wlth nembers of his staff'

Dprlng thls meetlng, Dougla! Clure was reaPPolnted as Anchor-

age Civil Defense Director.

According to a dlspatch from Reglon I office of clvil Defense

personnel, declsloo" r.a"hed at the 3 a'm' meetlng at the,Publlcbafery nuilatng gave flvst prlority to restoration of uttllty ser-vices: electrtcity, sewer, lilaterr and gas' Requlrements for parts

and materiaLs were- irovfdei to the clty civil defense staff, rfiiehforwarded them to Slate civll defense headquarters in Anchorage'

General Reeves stated that the u. s. Air Force would provlde airtransportation for urgently needed supplles'

The report from OCD Reglon 8 contlnued that the secoodary

phase of emeigency operations included ttdebrLs clearance, demoli-

tlon of dangerous structures; and health and welfare, and lnjuredand missing activities. Assessment was made of damage; and requlre-ments for iood, fuet, medlcal supplies, transportation, manPower,

parts and equlpment needed for the emergency condltlons were

ietermined. -

Ttrlngs not available at the lotal level were requested

"f in" State Civif Defense office. Airltft was the. pTlo"i!.l.Tefsof transportation to all outlylng'areas and from'the lower 4U'.

A further operational report stated: t'city P9*9I plant was

out of operation ior lack of fuel. A temporary fuel line was laidfrom the natural gas terminus to Polrer p1ant, and electric service

was restored on a modif Led baslS. I'trater and sevrer servlce were restorediy-s.t*"ots. In some areas, sewer service will not be

-6-

restored for mont\e. Anchorage ci-vt1 Defense Director clureordered 1r000 chemicar toilets from seattle, and the offlce ofcivil Defense secured stocks of sanitatlon klts from sheltersupplles at Elmendorf Alr Force Base. An additional 1r000water contai.ners and liners were supplied from warehouse stockof ocD public shelter supplies at seattle. These items were alr-Ilfted to Anchorage.

"As a safeguard against dlsease, 24rO00 people in Anchoragehave been vaccinated against typhotd by City Emergency HealthService of Clvll Defense.

"DemoLition activity, road repair, and debrls clearance beganby Monday (seeond day after the quake). Clvll Defense Dl-rector Clurecoordinated activlty and ln partlcular procured and asslgned trans-portation and equlpment whieh he secured from city sources or wtthassistance of State Clvil Defense Office.

ttMore than 100 press correspondents from outside Alaskasecured informatlon and travel from the Anchorage city cD offlee.Free feedlng operatlons, welfare operatLons, and personal lnqulryservices establlshed headquarters in the Anchorage City CD Office."

I^Iorking Relatlonships -- The working relationships of theMayor, the City Manager, and the Clvil Defdnee Director evidentlyrrere very good. There was plenty of official work for all three.Tte Mayor made personal damage surveys, conducted news conferences,and generally represented the city government to the public. TtreC.ty Manager also conducted damage surveys, wtth the obJective ofdeterming dolIar-vatue losses as quickly as possible -- and itsprobably effect on the city budget, texes, and property values. Healso had to cauy on certaln functions thaE contLnued as in normaltimes. He signed official papers repreeenting the city. The CivllDefense Director coordinated emergency actioDs -- for the CityManagerr City department heads, dlrectors of organizatlons, andmilltary-support group commanders reported to the Clvll Defense Dlrec-tor for emergency assignments.

civil Defense Headquarters and staff -- Followlng hls reappoint-ment, CtviL Defense Director Clure qulckly expanded hls staff.rmmedlate appointments were based largely on personal knowLedge oflndivl-duaI capabi lttles .

The civll Defense Headquarters room in the basement of thePubLic safety Building hras a ehambles because fluorescent cellingllghts had crashed to the floor. Because of this, temporary head-quarters were Lrrnediately organlzed upstairs ln the Asslstant F-;reChietrs offlce. Later, the CD operatlon was returned to the basementroom, and expended to a larger room next door that had been usedas a police gymnaslum. All top city offLclale -- lncludlng the CtvilDefense Director -- functioned from this one large room. By belng

-7-

together, wlthin sight of one another, etnergency problemscould be dlscussed qutckly and in person -- and decisionsmade lnrnediately.

Intervlew of Douglae clure -- In an Lntervlew after theearthquake, Douglas c!-ure, Anchorage clvll Defense DLrector,gave an account of his activlty on the evenlng of the disaster.A portion of lhg lnterview follows:

"As soon as the earthquake hit I reatlzed that the clty hadundergone a maJor dlsaster. I went to ... Irh€te my office had beenlocated, hoping to find enough people there to open up and startworking. Of cgurse, I wanted to ascertain the condition of theoffice. when I got there I found .o. Do one who could be of-anyassistance ln opening up -- and I, of course, had Lurned my keysin -- so I couldntt get into the area. But I did get a potlcemento open the door. I fo.und everything was in somewhat of a shambles,and was not in operable condition, so I left then and went to theState Office of Clvil Defense to see what the eonditlons were overthere.

"I found things ln a fairly ehaotic conditlon there, too,because of lack of cormnunlcatlons. There was no po\,rer and no wayto conrnunicate except by radio. Some efforts lvere being made atthat tiroe to establlsh radio contacts through RIICES, but nothinghad yet been put together with the exception of the State pollceradlo net. It was functioning and at the State office we had Statepolicemen who were attemptlng to find out the extent of damage lnoutlying areas

ttGovernorts representative John Alcantra apPeared at the Stateofflce a little bit later. My first aetlon after.seeing that therewas nothing that could be done due to lack of conrnunlcations atState was to go to Elmendorf to a tarehouse that is used jointly be

the State Civil Defense offlce and Clty Civtl Defense offlce and

begln to get medical supplles -- because s,e assumed that therewould be a great number of people who would be- on the lnJured llstas a result of this rquake; and we knew we had some serious damage

downtown. [.Ie had no tdea how many people had been lnJured at thispolnt.

I'I went out and got a truckload of medical supplles and

brought those back and dellvered them to Presbyterian CommunityHospital here in town ... As soon as I got back to the Stateofflce, John Alcantra asked me to go downtown and do a fast damage

survey for him so he could get word out to the Governor. I dldthat. I went down and tooked at the'downtown aresr and then Ibecame ahrare of the extent of damage, and antlclpated a great need

for search and rescue people to get into the rubble. I then returnedto the State offtee to give John Alcantra my report on my initlalassessment of damage, and the Mayor of the city was there.

-8-

He asked me lf r would come back over to city Harl wlth hlm,or the Publtc safety Buildtng r.'here rre now are, and start organlz-ing the clvil defense effort for him, whlch I agreed to do. Irode back over here wlth the. Mayor and we came in tso the officehere and began to etart up the civll defense structure at that time,using the Pollce Force and the Fire Department. And r had ar thistLme asked for military support. These- people were beglnnlng toarrlve. I would say we began gettlng the CD organlzatton puttogether about 10 orclock.

rrWe coutd not conmunicate with anything except radio, andby this time of course there were two conmercial radlo stationsthat were operable and worklng, so broadcastlng was our method ofcorununicating or getting ln contact with any l-ndlvlduel ln town...we worked this by the regular broadcast, and we would ask for who-ever hre wanted and te1l him where to report.

"Our first effort was to get publtc utllity groups. We wantedto get people ln here who could restore power and assess the damageto our polrer system. t'le needed people for comnunlcations -- partic-ularly telephones, and we needed people who could perform certainrescue functions. We needed ambulances.

"The response was very good. I had already asked for themilitary to send some mountain cllmbers and rescue people, and rhad those people on tap. But because it was so dark and it hras sodifficult to assess the damage, ure were hesitant about puttrnglarge crerrs into the buildings that were badly damaged ior reirof having more people injured ... I{e only searched Ln areas r,*rererile were relatively certain that there might be injured. As soonas we got the search and rescue groups golng lre sent them out toTurnagaln, where we knew there was extensive damage. We did asmuch as we courd, using flashlights ... we determlned there wereno cries for help from out there. we patrolled the city area, andas far as ree eould determlne there was no one alive in any of thosebuildings, so there \das no need for inrnediate al.l-out effort insplte of the danger to go ln there ... we then waiEed for daylightand patrolled the area, looking and listening.

ttTliere \dere trilo platoons of Army personnel out there, and wehad mountaln cllmbers and the Alaska search and Rescue Group, whichis a group of amateur mountain cLimbers. They rescue people offthe mountains every year.rl

rn estimatlng the time lt took to organize the groups after theearthquake, colonel clure sai,d that t'our organizational meeting toset up the clvil Defense office occurred at 3 otclock in the morning,when we called for people over the radlo and set up a meetlng withmiLitary representation as wetl as department heads in the cltyand those who were lnfluential ln varlous buslnesses such as whole-sale food ...petroleum products ... the electrlc utillty, and the

-9-

sas compapy. Al1 of these people who have control of the caPa-

flifiay io provide power and to'sustain llfe tn city were calledtogether.

ttAt that time the Mayor conducted a meetlng and announced

that I had come back here as Votunteer Clvil Defense Director forthe clty, and would be operatlng the clvl1 defense offlce. we

then began to wrtte down the varlous functLons that woutd have tobe performed lmrnedtately to get the clty back orilits feet. Natur-ally, as Civil Defense Dlrector, I was coordinator for all of these.We icnew that I would need a staff and lt had to be a volunteerstaff. various people indlcated their wllllngness to work a8

volunteers on the staff.tt

Clure then indicated that he had a functionlng organizatlonwithln about 12 hours.

Ln corunentlng on weakness in the organization, or what he

thooght would be ai lmprovement ln the civil defense setup, ColonelClure said: irFlrst I would need a news release control statlon "'some place where we could control the releases that were offlcialclvl1 defense. A lot of mlsinformatign was golng out in the earlyhours ... There ls a reat necessity for a Publlc InformationOfflcer -- a man who can control news and see that the officialnews goes out (A volunteer Pubtrlc Information Officer \ras

added to colonel Clurers staff severaL hours after the emergency

started.)t,second, I would have a central morgue, where all bodles

are brought in so they can be identifled quickly and people caD

be given the lnformatlon ... This Ls very Lmportant, and I was

s1oi. I wasnrt able to make an accurate release for at least24 hours. ..tt

Five-Dav Ooeratlons Surmrarv -- An emergency information releaseprepar fense at the end of 5 days of operationsiecounts Uifefty some of the activlty. The retease stetes:

,,As of 5:40 p.m. last Frlday afternoon the city was wlthoutpower, without heat, wlthout water, and rra1{

"-"9tions had no

L"rrr servlce and no telephone- service. Add this to the down-

town aree destructlon, and the)ellmLnatlon of the homes of approx-1mht61y L00 owners ln the Turnagaln area.

,'Mter the bleak dawn of last Saturday we walted onty a shorttlme for telephone service to be rel.nstated. The power came on inmoat areas shortly afterward, and wlth tt heat for many horiree.

During thls inltLal period, the clvtL defense mlssing-personssecttln set aQout rapfaty checkipg the we}fare of over 300 femllieswho were not accounted fOrr and-even with a number of other names

belng added to the llst by the hour, the civll defense missing-p"r"6o" bureau closed Tuesday at noon wlth only one remaining name

-10-

on the llst- At this time, health offlcials 100ked ahead andadvised the establishment of typhoid innoculation centers, andhundreds of cltizens took ttre sarety precaution. The u. s.Army provi.ded hot meals and water tanlers to many neighborhoods,provided police reinforcement, town and outlyrng patrorsr andheawy equLpment uhile workmen were already b;;t'repairing vltalroads to inrnediate use. Fourteen quaLlfi"i to"i".tLon teams madeup of englneers and architects began the jbb ol appraising andevaluatlon. An irksome and trylng sewage problem iev"ropfa ,ittan armost impossible volume of problems to be fought trrrougtr.wednesday morning the downtown distrlct opened to the public exceptfor unsafe areas,

- 'ldednesday afternoon munrcipar power and Light said the powersituation was no longer on emergency basls, The trro gas turbr.nesln the city plant had provided electricity through one of the mosttrying times any city has ever knom. Just 2 days before the earth_quake hit, the city put the second turblne into operatlon -- and ithas been going ful1 tilt ever since.

_ - r\^Iednesday afternoon public works restored sewer service tothe downtoun areas south of 4th Avenue and announced that Thursdry

morning they were to tackle the ?urnagaln area and open the Hoodcrack outfall and provide service from sondstrom Drive il1 the wayto the inlet- A11 this time the Anchorage fire department waspatrollng, cheeking, keeping ahead. Fire was not a problem to us(only one minor braze reporiea in the first hours of the emergency);but the Anchorage fire department did more than thei. "t,.r.-ii-it,"overall. city polieemen are stilr. working 12-hour shifts. coop-eration was running high and coordination was running at a bettlrpercentage of effectiveness dhan anyone ever had hoped for."The Anchorage port, with its four huge cranes completelyimmobilized, received the new vanship 'Tonslnar loaded *itt .rriplres.Northstar stevedoring moved in a mobile crane and the supplies'rrere on their way for our use. Trash and garbage dlsposai-went on.Distribution of chemical toilets and a1t oi the-reLatld problems.

These ,ere a busy 5 days, but things were moving back to normar ata fantastlc rate. Even the 50 thousand volumes at the LoussacLlbrary were in their rightful places again.ItTo top it-all off, we ended the day by announcing that the

neon lights could again be turned on,

9grnrnuntcFtions -- state radio nets immediately operationalafter the earthquake included those of the'Fish and Game service,the state Police, and the Department of Highways. Meqrbers of thestate of Araska Radio Amateur civil Emergency lervices, known as

'h busy 5 days, but uorth itl And the job has Just begun.'r

- 11-

t'RACES", rrere among the flrst to establish any servlceablecomrnunications between key emergency eontrol points. RACES

is a part of State and local civil defense.

I,Iithin minutes, under the directlon of Ernest llelrett'Alaska State RACES Officer, moblle shortwave untts had beenpositioned at various critical points around Anchorage. RIICES

contlnued to provide fround-the-clock service through the emer-gency -- not only in the emergency oPerations netwprk, but inhandling messages to and from "the outsidertt and traffic fromoutlying damaged areas.

Ilewett parked his mobile short wave unlt at S...tate CivllDefense Headquarters in Anchorage. IIe descrlbes his operatlonsthis way:

"By *y watch, when tr first went on the alr lt was 47minutes past the hour (11 mlnutes after the earthquake hft).On putting the station on the air ... I eallbd for any mobileunits ... and raised approxlmatety three. I-continued to oPer-ate mobile at the time and tried to get someone to go ahead andhook up the emergency po\rer generator which we had in the butlding'but had not been wired into the system after overhaul.

I'Operating from the car, I dispatched mobiles as they cameon the air to previously setected positions on a basls of a poss-ible requirement, such as hospitals, the Anchorage City CivilDefense, State Police, Alaskan Comrnand ....

'My Deputy MCES Officer happened to be the chief englneerof the first radio station that came on the air and he was on theair in the radio station wLth a conununicator -- so hre establlshedconrnunications ilnmediately with the radio stations. As soon asthe next station came on the alr -- they happened to be two compatiblestations -- they tied together ln a simulcast .. . tt

Radio. TV Statl.ons -- A11 local radio statlons and both tele-vlslon stations were knocked off the air immedlately when the earth-quake occurred. One 10r000-watt radlo statlon -- the EmergencyBroadcast Statlon (Clvll Defense) for Anchorage -- was, wlth thehelp of an emergency generator, back on the alr withln 20 to 30mlnutes.

The statlon englneer, Deputy MCES Offlcer for Alaska, mailethe first announc@ents: lhey reportedly were these:

"Ihcrc hrr bcrn atr Grrthqurke.tt

tbonrt uaa tour tclephonc.tl

ItStty tuncd for offtclrl ctvll dcfcnrc Grcr!.nc, tnfonetlon.rr

-12-

Rene Cappon, Editor of the Anchorage Daily News, sald inan AP dispatch that "After awhile, the radio statlons came backon the air with clvlL defense instructions -- bringing at leastthe feeling that sornebody was struggling to regaln control ofthe situation.rr

United Press International repolted that ttAnchoragefs fourradio stations were doing a yeoman sefvice today, with relays ofannouneers rolling off everything from cI.vil defense messages topersonal reassurances from survivors to relatLves. 'bontt usethe phones unless Ltls an emergencyrtt and ttPlease conservedrinking waterr" are followed by, "To Jack ln Adak -- Suzy Okay,"

As this station and others returned to the alr, many lclndsof messages were broadcast, based on reports available at the time.Much of it was unofficial.

^

Emergencv Informatton -- In the first few hours of theemergency, accurate ipformation on the situatlon was extremelydifficult to obtain. Rumors were rampant. Within a few hours,it became apparent that somethtng had to be done to let the publicknow the true situation, and what was belng dore for thelr safetyand welfare.

As part of a system set up by State CD and OCD Region 8personnel, an emergency broadcast booth was installed in theAnehorage Civil Defense headquarters. Merrill Mae1, a represen-tative of radio station KFQD, the Emergency Broadcast Station,prepared emergency lnformatlon messages. Relays of announcersat the four radlo stations tled lnto the emergency informatlonnet. Ttrey were notifled from Ctty CivlL Defense headquarters bythe ingenious use of an alarm clock, and from State CD by a 11000-cycLe tone, lf a message were to be broadcast. Before being puton the air, emergency informatioD messages rrere slgned off by keyofftcials.

Newspapere -- Ttte two daily newspapers Ln Anchorage -- TtreAnchorage Dailv Ii*es, an afternoon paper! and Ttre Anchorage i?ffvNews, a mornl,ng paper, couLdntt publish lnnnedtateLy following theearthquake because there rras no power to run the presses. Bothhad minor structural damage to their plants, but the presses camethrough all rlght.

At .the I@, 1lght fixtures crashed, typenriters spi1led,shelves crashed down ln the Library, and Teletype machines overturned.Across town ar the News, the Jolts fltpped trueks ln an adjotningparklng lot and sent the back pressroom waII crashlng outward.The composlng rooms at both.-papers were a mess of pled type, lead,and forms. The Tlmes resumed operation the following Sunday, andthe News on I'tonday. Upon getting their presses iolling agaln, bothnewspapers provided slgnal publlc service in thorough reportlng.

- 13-

An emergency emergency editl.on carrylng the banners of the two

Anchorage papers ,"r poutrshed 1n Falrbanks the day followlng thelquake.

\>\ Asslstance bv Organizatlons -- Nearly every type of civii and

frat'br rage turned to ln volunteer emergency

functions -- all of it boordinated by clvll defense'

Examples lnctuded actlon by the spenard Rotary c1ub, which

conducEed search, rescue, and salvage operatlons in the Turnagaln

resldential area. Teenaiers ptra yed an important role ln the salvage

operation.

Explorerscoutswereactlveinsalvageoperatlons,andl.ncarrying messages.

The American Leglon conducted rescue operations, and provlded

care for dlsplaced p"i"oo". Such a large amount of clothlng was

belng sent in from Leglon posts throughout the unlted states thatthelocalcornmanderrraatorequestthattheflowbehalted

The Red cross geared up for massive casualty and rehabillta-tlon action. the Red cross headquarters ln downtown Anchorage sus-

tained severe damage, and a temPorary headquarters had to be setup. Red Cross uni.Is cared for vlctims of the tquake, and a c_entral

message point was set up to handle lnqulrles concernlng the fate offrlends and relatlves.

, Ttre salvatlon Army provided hot meals, clothlngr and houslng

for the displaced

Labororganlzatlonsprovldedassigtaneeofmanykinds.

These are onty examples. Many other organizatlons provided

valuable services.

Asslstance bv the Militafv -- Ll'-G"l' Rayrnond J' Reeves-'

tte Uf , worked closely wlth city author-ities 1n quickly providing milltary supPort ln the dlsaster. The

National- iuardr- rlgular Air Force and Army personnel cooperated

with clvillans in search and rescue, and securlty and traffic controldutles. These operations were coordl-nated by clvil defense,

The mltitary provlded conununicatLons units, mobile msss-

feedlng kitchens, emergency generators, and water-purlftcatlon unltsand water tank trucks.

Ttre regular milltary Personnel came largely from Elmendorf

Alr Force Base and Fort Rlchardson. The Alaska Scouts (Alaska

Nattonal Guard) tras encamped at Fort Richardson. These tropps

\rere pressed into lurnedlate servlce'

-14-

-CD Sgpplles.an{ Equlpment -- Irrnediately followlng thedlsaster' all avallab'Ie emergency clvil defense equlpmenl waeprovlded ae far as feaslble to areas of need. Thib Lqulpmentlncluded emergency generatora, medlcal supplles, emergency hos-pttal equlpment, and emergency rrater supply "qrip*ert.

severar publlc fallout shelters bad been marked and stockedln Anchorage. A11 water containers and eanltation klts Ln access-tble butldings were dlstrlbuted ae needed. The water contalnerswere fLlled froro Army noblle tanks, and from some safe water mainsources, at several polnts throughout the clty. These were inaddltion to the 11000 civl1 defense water.contaLners airlifted fromSeattle'.

One of the notable emergency ac.tlons taken by eity CD wasactlon to flueh gasollne frour ruptured tanks out of inlet, along-slde the clty docke. ?hie rrss an extremely ticklish operatlon,handled by the ftre department. one spark could have set the wtrolearea aflame. Through use of surplus hose, obtalned through civtldefense, much of the gasollne was flushed away. Tides completedthe Job.

Colonel Douglas Clure, Anchorage CD Director, sald that "Theclty of Anehorage has acquired surplus property fron tlme to tlmeover the years, and at the time of the earthguake we had a numberof surplus generators that were Lnstalred and in'servlce. Theselmnedlately were opened up, and provlded por.rer in the St. MaryrsNurslng Eome here in town. ltre Presbyterlan Hospltal was furnlsheda generator; and some power equipment was furnlshed to the NativeServl.ce Hospltal from surplus equlpment.

t'we also have some emergency rrehicles that belong to the citythat were acquired through surplus. These, of course, went intoactLon. I{e have a civil defense bus that was used dr-rring theemergency. In addltlon to thls, we ptaced ln service some massheating equipment. !,le have fire department vehicles, pumpers,and trucks that have been acquired over the years. ff,i" i" p".-t,icularly true of the volunteer flre departments in the suburbanareas

'\.Ie acqulred 18 lengths of Z\-Lnch hose the day followingthe earthquake. This was acqulred on an emergency basis from iheState surplus property yard.tt

The hose was used to flush out the thousands of gallons ofgaeottne and fuel o11 that had spilled from a tank farm lnto thedock area. Ttrls ls the operation already descrlbed.

Dlrector clure continued that rrother items of equipment, suchas blankets, sleeplng bags, cots, stretchers, medical supplles, andsmall ltems too numerous to mert lon were put Lnto service durlngthe eerthquake emergency.tt

-15-

A civil defense emergency generator automatically switchedon at Provtdence llospltaL when regular Power went off there as

a resuLt of the earthquake. The new $6 million hospital, operatedby the Sisters of Charity on the southeastern outskirts of Anchorage,was the onl.y hospital tO have heat, Polrer,, and lights tn the flrstfew hours of the emergency. The emergency pohrer fed lnto a reduced-load circult wired into special sectlons of the hospitaL. An Army

moblle generator later provided supplementary power to bring allcircuits back into use. A11 inrne$iate casualtles of the earthquakewere routed to Providence Hospitat. A public fatlorrt shelter in thebuilding had been marked and stocked. The stored water wa6 notused, but fn the ruords of . Stster Superior Barbara El1en, ttlt r^ras

certalnly comforting to know that it was there."

At the Alaska Native servlee Hospltal, near the downtown

section of Anchorage, pohrer was knocked out for some time. A

public fallout shelter had also been marked and stocked there --but the rf,ater containers had not yet been fi11ed. They werefilled from an Army mobile water tank unit within a short timeafter disaster struck,

E},IERGENCY ITEMS IN HOME SI4ELTER

Long before the earthquake, the Merrill I'lael family' at 1236Tenth Street, in Anchorage, had establlshed a shetter area in theirhome -- and had stocked tt with many different emergency items.I1r. Mael, who volunteered as Emergency Information Officer forAnchorage Civil Defense, sald that his wlfe Jeanne, an employeeof the FederaL Aviation Agency, was the driving force in gettingthe shelter esEablished and in acquiring the emergency items.Mrs. Maelts interest in home preparedness began in 1954 when herhusband had first become active !n volunteer civl1 defense work.Mr. Mael regularly has a morning show on radio station KFQD inAnchorage, and is Production l,lanager for the Alaska Agency, amarket research ard advertising firm.

The entire famlly was home at the time of the tquake. Thefarnily includes the Maelrs two children, Marl"eigh, 11, and Devin, 7.Mr. Mael rras on the telephone, talking with a friend about a RotaryGlub movl-e that was in production. The frlend said, t'He11o, Hel1o.rtThen, tDld you feel that?rr Then, both said, "See ry6t* End ofconversation.

The house began p{tching violentlyl and a china closet in thefront room fell to the floor -- shattering all of a collectlon ofglassware that the Maels had gathered piece by piece from variousparts of the world. The earthquake continued to build in intensity.

After about 4 minutes, as estimated by Mr. Mael, the quake

"gave a final resoundLng kickr" dnd stopped. I^lhen the Maels

-1 6

looked out their front plcture window, they could see that anewly constructed six-story apartment buililrg a"ross a parkarea had collapsed into a twisted mass of rubble. rtreir ownhome was undamaged, but there were no publ-ic utilities.

Emergency items in the home shelter proved useful in thefirst days fotlowlng the earthquake --.rot only to the Mae1s, butalso to nelghbors and other friends. Especlaliy valueble ln theimmediate post-quake period were the many gallons of bottledwater Mrs. Mael had stored ln the shelter area. Also included tnher emergency supplies were foods of many types, an [laddln lampfor heat and Llght, a transLstor radio and spare batterles. Aliof these types of items were used by the family and others durlngthe emergency.

other emergency ltems stored in the Maelrs home shelterincluded an oxygen kit, fLrst ald supplies, a packboard wlth nylonrope, a hatchet, saw, pliers, and foxhoLe shoriel -- and civil defensel-iterature. Mrs. Mael had also always carried a small emergeDcykit in her car as she traveled back and forth to work.

The Maels need no further convincing of the value of a homesheLter and emergency stocks of water, food, and other items

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth C, Lauster, of 323L Redorrbt Court, Lnthe Turnagain area of Anchorage, also had emergency supplies ofwater and food ln their basement. Mr. Lauster is chief, offlceof Environmental Health, wlth the Alaska Native Health AreaOffice. The Lausters, too, made good use of their emergencysupplies -- r,fiich included a battery-powered radlo -- during thedisaster period. Ttreir home, arthough undamaged, \ras wlthln twoblocks of the heavily damaged area ln Turnagain. They were wlth-out heat, light, and power for some time, The bottled water wasquite usefut untlL CD-procured lrrlgation pipe was installed lntheir residential area to provide pure water to the homes.

\

- r7-

STATE CIVIL DEF"ENSE

The State Civil Defense Director, Don lowelt, was ln Juneau,the State Capital, when the earthquake struck. He was there becausethe clviL defense budget was belng considered by the LegisLature.

The State Clvll Defense organizatlon had developed an emer-gency plan for use in event of nuclear attack. Ttre plan had beenoralIy approved by Governor l'Iilliam A. Egan, but he had not yetsigned it. There was no civil defense ptan speciflcally for peace-tirne disaster.

Within minutes after the earthquake subsided, the Deputy CivilDefense Dl-rector, Alvln Dalke, and several others arrtved at StateCtvil Defense Headquarters at 1l-11 East 5th Avenue. This was about2 mites from Anchorage Civit Defense Headquarters. Keys had beenforgotten, so the door was broken open.

Ernest llewett, the State RACES Officer, mentioned earlier inthe section on trAnchorage Emergency 0perationsrt'was one of the firstto arrive at State Clvil Defense Headquarters, It was from here thathe set up an emergency communications network over the Anchorage area.

Some other members of the State government were able to startoperatlons in their specialized fields within a short time. Activityin State Civil Defense headquarters was eoncentrated on providingassistance to Anchorage, Valdez, Seward, Wtrittier, Kodiak, and otheroutlying areas.

OCD Region 8 personnel have reported that rtlhe State ClvilDefense Office was activated withln 30 minutes after the earthquake.The permanent staff of five professlonals and trro secretaries wasexpanded to approximately 150 people within 24 hours. I'he expanslon17as accomplished by civl1 defense volunteers, personnel from otherState departments, and a few mllitary communicatlons speciallsts.

fEhe Governor, in accordanee wlth the State Clvil Defense Plan,designated the State Civll Defense Dlrector as hls coordinator of allemergency actlons. The State Clvl1 Defense Office was the focatpoint of emergency operatlons (ln the State) the executiveportion of State Bovernment was transplanted from Juneau to Anchorage ..

rrGenerally speaklng, the flrst effort was to re-establleh lostcommunlcations and ascertain what the damage was and where; next,to augment these limlted corununicattons and more clearly determlnewhat had happened where, and what was needed lnrnedlately for survlval;next, to estabtish prlorlties for emergerey actions. Thls gave wayto greatly Lncreased normal conmunicatione at the Clvl1 Defense head-quarters, damage assessment by experts, and recovery actions in plaeeof survlval and emergency actioni.rl

The State Clvil Defense Headguarters was in a slngle-story framebutLding, approxlmately 2O by 80 feet. To solve the space problemcreated by the great expansion of staff, four 45-foot moblle homeswere inoved ln adJacent to the headquarters bulldlng. One

- 18-

moblle home houscd Goveroor Egan and his etaff, onc the statcDepartmcut corunlssioners, one statc clvt1 Defenec Dlrectorrowell and sevcral of his staffe and anothcr was uscd aB e messhaI1.

MtlitaTv Asels-tancj -- As wtth Anchorage. Civtl Defense, militaryasststance wis proffered to statc CivtL Defengc within a shoit time.Mllitary support of elvll authority was-'evrdent ln all damagedlocallties ln thc statc. As one mllitarx commander put it, ,rfthc eivl1 authorities had askcd for pcanuts out of tire sheil, werdhavc providcd shelled pcanuts.r' Military support opcratlons werecoordlnated by State Civil Dcfense.

The state cD Military Lialson offtcer, coI. Ilenry Turner,usMc, Ret., had recently retlred from active duty wlth the AlaskaMilltary Cornrnand (ALCOM) at Elmendorf Alr Force Base. IIis successor,co1.-Jerry smith, was the civl1 dcfense lialson officcr for ALC0M,at Elmendorf. Togcther, they wcre able to handle military supportreguirements of State clvl1 Defense with dispatch and efftctcn-y.

The Alaska Milltary conruand provided lnrnediate support. Theu.s. Army, Alaska, undcr thc direction of Maj. Gen. Ned D. Moorc,provided major and lnrmedlate, on-the-spot support. At Kodiak,the u. s. Navy provided locar asslstance. The u. s. Air Force pri-marily provided alr ltft

The Army assistance was known as 'roperation }Ielping Hand'r,and included such thtngs as personnel for poLice relniorcement;connnunications equlpment, suppllcs, and personneL; flcld messunlts and rations, and personnel" to operate mass feedlng operations;water trallers and purlficatlon unlts, and emergency generators.Aerlal reconnaissance photographs of damage were taken from Armyaircraft.

contrary to some reports, martiar Law was not declared at anytime anyruhere in Alaska. Military support was withdrarfl) as soonas locat capability lras restored and-could assume or provide forrequirements.

The Alaska l{ationat Guard provided personnel and equipmentunder state ctvil. Defense coordinaEion. (*," strte AdjuianiGeneral, Maj. Gen. Ttromas carroll and three other National Guardpersonnel were killed ln a plane crash on saturday, April 25,shortly after takeoff from the valdez Airport, after leaving-Governor Egan and party in thc town for an inspection of ""itt-quake damage, and observation of restoration and re\abilitation work.others on the ptrane were Lt. col. Thomas Norris, Anchorage, thapilot; MaJ. James Rowe, Anchorage, the co-pilot, and T. 5eigt.Kenneth Ayers, Anchorage, flight engineer.)

-19-

Although RACES and gtate-ageney radio nets providedearly esscntial corrnunications, the military qutckly supple-mentld these with moblle microwave unlts. One was parkbd out-slde State Civil Defensc Headquarters, Mllltary personnetmanned the mtcrowave circuits and also the State CD TeLetypeclrcuits. Ttre State-agency radio nete were partlcularly helpfulln relaying lnformatlon to and from remote areas.

Ttrc mllltary airlift by the U. S. Air Force of equipment'supplles, and personnel., at the requast of state civil defcnse,was the greatest in any peacetime dlsaster. The largest itemairllftcd was a Ballcy Brldge, used to rcplace a bridge knockedout on the highway between Kenai and Soldatna. The BatleyBridge, which weighed 3301000 pounds' htas airlifted within 3

days-in 9 loads on a C-123 aircraft, and in 6 loads on a C-L24.ftrl efr Forcc also providdd aerl-al reconnalssance photographs ofearthquake damage.

The Caltfornia Alr National Guard airlifted several thousand .

pounds of irrigation pipc from Californla for use ln supplytng purewater to homes in the Turnagain area of Anchorage. Ttrls tas atthe requcst of Anchorage Civil Dcfense, through Al.aska State CivilDefense. The Californla Alr National Guard al'so airllfted a

complete redwood house for Governor Egants use as a temporaryemcrgeney headquarters in Anchoragc.

Ctvll Alr Patrol -- Ttre Clvil Air Patrol Group based inAnchorig- went into service almost immediately following theearthquake] ln cl-ose cooperatlon with State Civil Defense. ThisGroup airllftcd critieally needed equlpment' personnel, andsupplles to hard-hit outlying areas. Ttre Atr Force provlded allaison offtcer (Maj. Karl Kenyon, USAF) from nearby Elmendorf AirForce Base, and also provided gasoline and oi1 for operation of theCAP airplanes. Ten pllots of thc Group flew scores of rellefmlsslons to outlying areas, and deliyered tralned specialists andthousands of pounds of crittcally needed supplies. CAP Lt. Co1.J. Vic Brown, Group Conunander, suffered severe personal loss tohts home and buslncss in the rquake, but nevertheless put in longhours day aftcr day on duty with the Group. Many of the pilots w.or{ted

around the clock.

Emerqencv CommunLcations -- Amateur radio was indispenslble inthls dlsastcr. Onc of the reasons for thls capabiltty is that amateurradlo ls an integral part of many Alaskans t dally cornmunlcationwlth othcr places.

Emerpcncv Information -- Emergency public information was ameJor problem. A gtatewlde capab{tity for broadcasting officlat,accurltc lnforrnatlon lfas created by using civil defense R:ICES

Gonsct aets loeatcd ln eommerciar radlo and 11/ stations, theArmed Forces Radlo Service, and the Alaska Conrnunications System.

-2G

ocD personnel assisted the state cD staff in establishlng thiscapability. The Anchorage and State civil Defense offices rverecontrol polnts. The commercial radio station at seward hadbeen destroyed by tidal waves and va'1dez and Kodlak had no corrn-erclal radlo stations

volgpteer Manpower -- one of tha-biggest problcms at statecpneaffiirsttwodaysoftheemergencywastoomuchvolunteer manpor^rer. An estimated 200 persons r,rere in and aroundthe premlsas, wanting to volunteer their services. some wereassigned to emergency duties -- but many could not be used. one ofthe persons assigned to the emergency sr+itchboard had been a usedcar salesman across the street from the headquarters. Another wasa man who had purchased an electronics business on 4th Avenue inAnchorage Just onc hour before the quake struclc. [Iis business waswLped out.

Ttre following statement by Alaskars Governor !trilllam A. Eganconcerning civll defense activity in the earthquake disaster hrasprinted in a San Francisco nelrspaper:

' "No other civil defense organization in the united states has

ever been faced with an emergency that can any way match the onecreated by the events in Alaska on Good Friday. The disasteraffected Al-askaf s largest city, five other major cornmunities,a number of native villages, and to a Lesser degree, populatedareas over an expanse of approximateLy one thousand miles -- ageographic area about one-third the size of'the 48 contiguousStates,

ttunlike the usual flood, fire or other disasters, this onetook many forms -- crumbred homes and butldings due to the earth-quake; lnoperable util,ities; sweeplng destruction caused by tidalwave and subsequent flood; fire caused by ruptured oi1 storagetanks; damaged water fronts -- to name but a few of the ma3oi con-siderations.

'\^lithln ten minutes after the earthquake, the state clvilDefense organization in Anchorage was functioning. state policevehicles were imrnedlately dlspatched to strategic locatlonsaround the city. state highr.ray department cre\,rs inrnediately southof the city started emergency arck on roads. Key state offlcialsin Anchorage went to inportant locations, such as the Anehoragcrnternational Airport, hospitals and other eenters, to assess damageand .determine imrnediate needs.

.L ,

f'At the same time, the Anchorage city civil Defense organlza-tion began doing the thousands of essential. tasks requlred, amongthem being: caring for the injured; clearing dangerous streets

-2L-

threatcned by co]lapsing waLls; inspecting evcry foot of gaspipe to prevent fire; restorl.ng telcphones and power. Ttrl.s localcivll defense effort was duplicated ln Seward, Kodiak and Valdczwhere aetive civil defense organtzations also exlst. In Juncau,the State Capital, State-wide comrnunlcatlon networks were belngestabllshcd through varlous clvlllan channels; calls went out todoctors and nurses to stand by lf nceded ln any of the Btrlckencommunltl-es. Contact was establishcd with the Congrcssionaldelegation ln Washington so that the'Federal Government would beadvlsed of iruuediate oeeds and the scope of the dtsaster.

t'After the first few hours of the cmergency, the State CivilDefense otganLzation proved flcxible enough to turn to the nextimmedlate considerations-- conducting an inventory of availablefood, fuel, gasollne and other essentLal cornmodities to determinershether special air shipments from the other States would benecessary; meklng contact wlth Seattle shippers to detcrml-ne whattypes of goods were enroute to Alaska as part of regular watershlpments, and establlshing prioritles for landing incoming ships andbarges; reopening elosed roadsl evacuating homeless people; reopenlngbanksl reopentng retail stores on a cash basis; and many othertasks.

rrThe milltary in Alaska wrote a nelr and often herolc chaptcrof service to the civilian community ln t'ime of need. No one willquestion this. Ttre inunedlate asslstance of the Air Force, Army,Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines ... stationed ln Alaska provedinvaluab le.

. rrAdditlonally, the Alaska Army and Alr Natlonal Guard provedto be of lmmediate valuable asststance ln kecplng order and protectlngpublic and private property. But thc direction came from clvlllans,particularly State and local civll defcnsc organlzatlons. And thcefforts, to a large degree, followcd ctosely along establlshcddisaster p1ans.

I'The efforts of Ehe Federal Office of Emergency Plauninglikewise cannot be underrated. I.Ie had prompt, valuable assistancefrorn the Federal organization, and our relatlonship contlnues tobe lmportant.

rRather than being an adJunct agency, Ctvll Defensc was thckey operational unit worktng directly from my offlce, And whllccoordination between State and locaL civil defense unlts wasquickly established, thc 1ocal units worked cxcecdLngly well ontheir own.

t'If this type of dlsaster agency had not been fu1ly functtoningat the time of the Al-aska earthquake, r personally bellcvc the firsthours following the earthquake would havc bcen ones of tragic con-fusion, Local organlzations would have been formed on ad hoc baslg

-22-

but without familiarlty with available means of communications,transpottation, supply and all the other essenttal ingredLentsthat went into the totaL operation.

"It may have been difficul.t for those outside Alaska togain thls knowledge, because our people rilere simply not in aposttion to grind out prcss releases telLing the world r,fiatthey were doing. But, now the dust has cieared, I r,rant to saythat all those in Alaska and all those having friends and relatlveshere owe a debt to Ctvil Defense organlzations that can nevcr berepaid. tl

OTHER OFFICIAT COMT.TETIT

Ttre President of the Alaska Senate, Frank Peratrovich, saldin Washlngton, D. C., after the inrnediate dlsaster period, that"Civil Defense deserves a real pat on the backtr for actionfollowing thc quake ln all affeeted parts of Alaska,"

-0-

Mayor Bruce Woodford of Val"dez, Alaska, sald that civildefense moved Ln ... irmnedlately after the quake and took chargeof rescuc operations. ttclviL defense wcnt all out for usrtr hcsaldr ttand I.canrt give enough credLt to this organization forthc help they have glven us.

"Ctvll defenser" he sald, tt(ls) contlnulng to do a great job.Ttre Army sent 120 troops lnto Valdcz, who Joined forces with theclvlI dcfense organization.r'

Don Wllliams ls tha Civil Defense Dlrector ln Valdez, and!I11llam Pettit and John Kelsey arc Asslstant Dircctors.

-0-

Mayor Pete Deveau, of lbdiak, Alaska sald thc work of clvlldefense peoplc Ln restorlng power ln Kodiak wlth emergency gener-atorsr and ln rescue operations, proved'how important (CD) canbe in naturat disaster, ttclvlt defense deserves strong support,he said, and contlnudd that t'I hope the Leglslaturc w111 takeanother look at civll defense after seelng the tremendous job (CD)has been dolng since the carthquakc hit us.rf

-0-

Perry Stockton, Mayor of Seward, stated that "I cannotspeak too hlghly of the work of clvll defense ln the emcrgcncy.

-23-

Fortunatcly we had a good CD emergency plan, and tralned pcople.Withln 20 minutes after dlsaster struck, the CD plan was lnoperatlon. tt

-0-

Following ls a letter from Bruce Kendall, Speaker of theAlaska House of Representatives, to Don Lowel1, Alaska StatcClvil Def6nse Dlrector: ":

rrDear Mr. Iowe1l :

'rlrt1e Alaska Eouse of Representatlves has unanirnously passeda resolution exprcssing thanks to the Clvll Defense for thelrmagnlficent efforts durlng the recent eaithquake dlsaeter ofNlarch 27, 1964.

ttfhose of us who were ln the Anehorage area are atare of thecontributions of your organization and appreciate the ser-vices of your staff and volunteer workers ln hclptng toalleviate the conditions of the disaster.

ttAt a tlme when much confusion existed, your efforts in estab-ltshlng conrnunicatlons and coordlnatlon were doubly appre-clated by us. Thank you again for your servLces.rf

-0-

Ttre following letter, addressed to the Alaska State CivtlDefense staff, was received from Mrs. Brideen Crawford, Chalrmanof the Board, Alaska State Bank:

trGentlemen:

"I would 1ike to take this opportunity to thank you for theadmirable work done by the Civil Defcnse during our recentdisaster and the ensuing difficult days, If we dldnrtrealizc before wtrat Civll Defense means, we do now, andwe appreciate lts meanlng. Agaln, a most appreciatlvethank you.. tt

-2 4-

FEDEML CIVIL DETENSE

There could, of course, be no advance warnl-ng of theearthquake. The National Warning System, however, operated bythe Offtce of Civll Defense, rilas immensely useful as an emergencycommunlcatlons medium during the first hours of the disaster.Robert Rlsley, OCD Warning Officer for Alaska, statloned at ElmendorfAlr Force Base, was able to provlde valuable initial communicatLonsthrough use of the Natlonal Warning System Circuit. l{lthinmlndtes after the earthquake occurred, a MCES communlcatlons officerparked hls rnobile shortwave rig Just outside the door of the AlaskaAlr Corrnand combat operations center where Rlsley has hls warningpost. Emergency messages could then be passed back and forth tothe OCD Warnlng Officer, from both Anchorage and State civil defenseheadquarters, and from Fort Rlchardson, and other outlying areas.Rlsley provided the flrst civllian situation report to the Pentagonin l{ashlngton, D. C. -- through the Office of Clvtl DefensePubllc Information -- to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the DefenseNews Room

OCD ReRton 8. Everett. Washlngton -- Tidal lrave !{arnings receivedfrom the llawali Magnetic Observatory through tre 28th and 25th warningcenters ln Californla, and ln llashington State, were reLayed byOCD Reglon 8 to State CtvtI Defense headquarters in Washington,Oregon, and Callfornia. Those States, in turn, warned loca1itiesalong their coastlines.

Immedlately followlng the earthquake, Charles RaIls1 Dlrectorof OCD Reglon 8, directed that OCD personnel assist the Office ofEmergency Plannlng staff on radio and landline cornrnunlcatiore toAlaska.

The next day, Ra1ls directed that his Dlrector of FieldOperatlons, the OCD Fteld Offlcer for Alaska, and the Reglon 8Warning Offlcer leave for Alaska on the morning of March 30 toasslst the Alaska State Clvil Defense. staff and personnel of theOffice of Emergency Planning (OEP) ln Alaska.

A Region 8 staff member was also sent to Elmendorf AlrForce Base for 2 weeks to work in the OEP office there.

Ttre OCD fteld staff worked with Alaska State Civil Defensepersonnel during the most hectic period of the disaster.

In the early emergency period, Dlrector Ra1ls had advisedboth State and Anchorage Clvil Defense that OCD shelter supplieswere available to be used in the emergency. He also advlsed thatsurplus ptoperty coutd be used if necessary. The OCD Regionalpersonnel sent to Alaska also provlded that information uponarrtval. A total of seven OCD Reglon 8 staff members eventuallyprovided asslstance in Alaska.

-25-

,.1

OFFICE OF EMERGENCY PLANNING

the Office of Emergency Plannlng coordinated assistance lnAlaska by all other Federat Agencies, and began restoratlon pay-ments for essentlel cononunlty serrtices as soon as possiblc underthe authority of Publtc Law 875, Ihe Natural Dlsastcr Act.Presldent Johnson declarcd Alaska an area of itmaJor natural dis-asterrr on March 28, thcreby making, the -S.tate eliglble for PubltcLaw 875 funds. '

Many Federal agencles were lnvolved in provlding assistancein the Alaska dLsaster. Some of them incLuded: I1le Office ofClvil Defense, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the GeologicalSurvey, the Army, Navy, Alr Force, Marines, and Coast Guard,the Urban Renewal Admj.ntstratlon, USDA, DHEW, the Public HealthService, the Housing and Ilome Finance Adrnlnlstratlon, and theArmy Engineers.

In the early emergency period, the Office of Civil Defensesent a listing to the Offlce of Energency Plannirg of resourcesOCD couLd make inroedlately available for assistance in Alaska.These resources included stockplled emergency englneerlng andhospital equlpment, water containers and sanitation unlts, andtrained speciallsts.

OCDrs Region 8 was instructed frora Washlngton to provldewhatever assistance feasible.

CONCLUSIONS

Some basic conclusioni reached as a result of emergencycivil defense operations ln the great Alaska earthquakc disaster,were statcd by Alaska State Ctvll Defense Dlrector Don Lowell, inone of the first moments he had for reflection. Lowel1 had thlsto say:

"Guidance provided by the Office of Ctvl1 Defense, at thcFederal level, has been proven gcnerally sound.

"To be prepared for disaster --rtI. There must be aB cmergency plan.

t'TtLs must be a flexible plan -- one dcsigned tomeet various contingencies, elther in pcacetimeor in war.

ttz. Tllere must be trained oeopte -- who lcow what thelrresponsibllittes a4e, and where to go and',whaE todo when disaster strikes.

-26 -

ItrcSc rmrst be eupplles and equipmcnt ln place --and ready for use Ln cmergcncy.

There must be comrunLcations -- bascd prlmarilyupon shortwave radiol and wtth a great number ofbattery-powcred tranststor reccivere in the hendsof offlcials and the publlc. Emergency gcneratorrat transmitter sites and et central reeelvlng atteearc also essentlal.

Thcre must be a central control point for eachopcrational area, for the gathcring and dlssemlna-tlon of accurete, offlclal l.'Bfonnatlqn. And thercmust be trained, profcselonal peoplc -at thoeccontrol polnts, to analyze lncomlng Lnformat0on,and prepare emergcncy lnformatlon mcssages.

116. firere must be an adcquate operations headquartcrefor civll defense, wtth heat, power, and llghte --and ggg for the operatlonal personnal, And alongwlth thls, must be conlrol of accees for thosepaople wtro work ln thc headquarters, and to kccpout those who are not lnvolved in thc emergencyoperations.

t'7. Oyerall control must be by clvll government --wlth ntIltary support.

ttA Natl,on that can conduct succeogful peacetime dleastcroperations is also prepared to deal with the effecti of any attack.

trAlaska has provl,ded an lnvaluable exercise for succcssfuldigastcr operatlons ln all States and communltlcs throughout theUnlted States.rr

MILITARY ST'PPORT CONCEPT

Ttre Alaskan cmergency has Just provlded a practlcal demon-stratlon of clvlIlan authorlty and operatLons belng maintatned andconducted by the Governor ard mayors, usLng their clvll defenseorganizations as coordlnatlng and dlrcctlng arns supportcd byrnilltary untts and ragoureds.

In a statement to Lt. Gen, George !I. !fundy, USAF (Ret.),now a Special Assistant to thc Dlrector of the Office of CtvllDefense, his successor as Corunandcr-in-Chlef , Alaska; Lt. Gen.J. R. Reevcs, said that in the earthgueke eltuatlon he quieklydlscovered the need to funncl mllltary assletance whlch hccontrolled through clvil defease.

tl2

,r4.

frs .

-2 7-

State AdJutant General Thomas P. Carroll went directlyto State Civil Defens'e Headquarters in Anchorage and relayedrequests for aid from State CD Headquarters to Army, AirForce, and Navy unlts.

An Army llaison unlt was also set up ln the Anchoragc Ci-vilDefense Headquarters.

l"lilltary support of clvll government ln'the face of dis-aster is a concept now belng strengthened in major ways in theDepartment of Defense,

On Tuesday, March 31, 1964, thc Offlce of Civil Defense wastransferred from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to theOffice of the Secretary of the Army, to bring about greater andmore effective operational capabilities.

This adninistratlve transfer rras anticlpated by the GreatAlaskan Earthquake of Good Friday, March 27, 7964. This mostpowerful earth movemcnt on the North Amerlcan Contlnent wlthinthe recorded history of man threw military and civil defenseorganizatLons Lnto necessary cooperation in a matter of a fewhours, in populated locatlons embraclng thousands of squaremiles of U. S. territory.

The experiences gained in disaster opcrations necessitatedby the earthquake will be invaLuable ln further strengthenlngthe capablLltles of U. S. Localitles, State governments, and theFederal Government to deal with energencies in the future --either in peacetime or Ln war,

-28-

THE ESSENCE OF CIVIL DEFENSE

Wtrat is clvil defensa? The meanLngfollowlng excerpts from an edltoriat that

le cxpressed ln theappeared in the

Anchorape Dailv Ncws for April 17, L964t

ftClvfl Defcnse .., conunands no battalion of workcrs ortechnlcLans or medical men. In thls Statc (Alaska), thc entl.reCD setup consists of a staff of qix. lhe Anchorage Civil Dcfcneaorganization is largely a onc-man Job.

rNaturally, CD relies for the physical asslstence inemergencies on other organlzations -- mllitary and clvillan --and ln Al-askars case they responded magnlficcntly to the challenge.

"l,fhat Clvtl Defense did is what lt rilas meant to do:Act as the Statets conxnand post, in lLaison, and ag a coordin-ator in the far-flung and lntrlcate rescue arid reLlef operations.Because Clvil Defense is sirnply civil government in emergency.

ttour CD peoplc, busy at their desksr may not have movedinto the spotltght, though they were mentioned ln plenty of thenews dispatches that came to our attention.

ttThey collected data; they took. on vital if ungl-amorouschores of expediting and coordinating, and they did a notable jobin keeping the news media lnformed, limitlng themsEtrves strictlyto the facts at hand -- a rather vital service in Lts own right.

t'...the Alaska earthquake ... served to prove (the)irnportance (of CiviL Defense) l.n rnany spheres of activlty --and if there are nuinerous organizations and volunteers wtrodeserrre praise for their devoti-on and unselfish efforts, thetiny State and city Civil Defense organizaticns rank amongthe top. rl

Dist: OCD Regions, State and local CD dirlctors, 2C(125 eEI."):,

2D(2 ea.),4A, 6C, 7D, and 8.

-29-* U. S. GOVERNIVTE].IT PRINTING OFFICE: 196{ O - ?36-784