Monument sights in Valdez
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Earthquake Memorial
Valdez has been unduly blessed by nature, but 17:46, March 27, 1964, was payback time. Some 45 miles west of town and 14 miles underground, a fault ruptured, triggering a magnitude-9.2 earthquake - the most powerful in American history. The land rippled like water as Valdez slid into the harbor; tsunamis destroyed what was left. Thirty-seven people died.
After the quake, survivors labored to relocate and rebuild Valdez at its present site. But if you drive out the Richardson Hwy you can still see the ghostly and overgrown foundations of Old Valdez. The Earthquake Memorial, listing the names of the dead, is reached by turning off the highway onto the unsigned gravel road j…
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