Six story building is reduced to rubble.
Flower shop crumbles into crevass.
Main Street sinks into the ground. Closeup of street cracked wide open.
Buildings fall into complete ruin. Wreckage of International A i r p o r t tower.
Photos courtesy John GilJespie day He will ‘shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea and the dry land’ in judgment.” Rev. Everett Ba c h e l d e r , Nome, Alaska: “We were not in Alaska at the time of the quake but we have re ceived letters from m i s s i o n a r y friends in nearly every field in Alas ka. It appears that not only were there trials but some definite bless ings. The Lord used the disaster to speak to those who would not listen before. This included children at children’s homes where precious life decisions have been made and lives cnanged. Nome also had a terrific shaking but only minor damage, through it there was blessing there and in outlying Eskimo villages. Since the quake occurred in March, that was two months before regular break-up. The great ice ledge off Nome cracked and the Eskimos could get their walrus and seal months early. Their larders were getting low and they were glad for the rifts in the ice that made the sea life come to the surface. The havoc is far greater than any report can picture. We gather that the Lord is surely speaking to the people of this great and needy land.”
worst damage of any coastal town. The whole waterfront was entirely swept away by the mountainous waves and over twenty lives were lost. Fires, caused by the shock, destroyed much of the business district. In Seward the story was much the same. The father of three of our Lazy Mountain Children’s Home personnel was killed by the tidal wave which piled 20 feet of de bris from the dock area on top of his little fishing boat. In Seward the railroad yards were completely de stroyed and the waterfront washed away. There were huge rock slides in the mountains. One glacier was moved half a mile. “ Some humorous i n c i d e n t s oc curred: a young man was forced to make a hasty exit from a depart ment store sans shoes and trousers; a policeman woke up and told his wife to keep the children from mak ing so much noise! “We here at Lazy Mountain suf fered nothing more than a good shaking up and an assortment of broken dishes, etc. The Lord has wonderfully protected us. ‘God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in time of trouble.’ God is longsuffering to sinful men. Some
buildings to a booming city—from birch tree forests and rabbit trails to ‘ritzy’ sections “ It was hard to imagine the power exerted during the quake. Ten-inch walls reinforced with steel were twisted and broken as a child would crush a cracker. Buildings had dropped into 20-ft. holes; one six- story apartment not yet rented crumbled. As a mission, we were grateful to be spared major dam age. The Lord was good to us as to personnel and buildings. Box cars were t hr own into Resurrection Bay as you’d throw marbles. The people were utterly helpless; there was nothing they could do. Some I believe have been more open to the Gospel since the quake but others have hardened their hearts. The lights are on again and the tav erns are in business— in a country which drinks more liquor per capita than any other area on the conti nent. Anchorage has p l en t y of churches but the people will not go to them. Pray for us.” Rev. Marvin J. Hurt, Lazy Moun tain C h ild r en ’s Home, Palmer, Alaska: “Valdez, one of our former places of missionary service, suffered the
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JULY, 1964
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