Tsunami damage, Kodiak, Alaska

Close-up view of tsunami damage along the waterfront at Kodiak, Alaska. A series of large tsunami waves were generated by sudden uplift of the sea floor beneath the continental shelf off south-central Alaska during the 1964 earthquake. The uplift "mounded" the overlying water, initiating a vertical oscillation of the water surface that dissipated as a series of radiating surface waves that struck the Alaskan coast at intervals of about 3/4 to 1 1/2 hours for about 10 hours after the 1964 earthquake.