Whittier waterfront

The dock area, a tank farm, and railroad facilities at Whittier were severely damaged by surge-waves developed by underwater landslides in Passage Canal. The waves inundated the area of darkened ground, where the snow was soiled or removed by the waves. Many landslides generated by the 1964 earthquake originated beneath, or came to rest within, large bodies of water. The resultant displacement of water by many of these slides produced surge-waves that hit adjacent shorelines with great violence. Such slides and the waves that they generated brought considerable property damage and loss of life to communities and isolated buildings situated on the shores of Prince William Sound and Kenai Lake.