The 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake was a magnitude 8.6 MW (8.3 Ms) megathrust earthquake that took place on March 9, 1957. It was centered at 51°30′N 175°42′W / 51.5°N 175.7°W / 51.5; -175.7 in the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust, south of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska.
The earthquake caused damage to infrastructure on Adak Island and Umnak Island, as well as causing an eruption of long-dormant volcano Mount Vsevidof. It also caused a tsunami that reached a height of 16 meters (52 ft) and caused around $5,000,000 in damage in Hawaii, destroying two villages on Oahu, and two bridges in the Aleutian region. No lives were lost in either the earthquake or the tsunami.
As of 2009 it remains the fourth largest-magnitude quake in the United States.
Famous quotes containing the words islands and/or earthquake:
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—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“Through the din and desultoriness of noon, even in the most Oriental city, is seen the fresh and primitive and savage nature, in which Scythians and Ethiopians and Indians dwell. What is echo, what are light and shade, day and night, ocean and stars, earthquake and eclipse, there? The works of man are everywhere swallowed up in the immensity of nature. The AEgean Sea is but Lake Huron still to the Indian.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)