Mayor of Port Alberni remembers the tsunami of 1964

PORT ALBERNI (NEWS 1130) – With so many emergency responders and agencies in Port Alberni this week for BC’s first ever full-scale disaster response drill, many long-time residents are remembering an all too real disaster that hit in 1964.

On March 28th of that year, a mammoth 9.2 earthquake struck Alaska, spawning a tsunami that swept as far south as California.

At its highest, the wave was an unbelievable 67 metres in parts of Alaska and a still-formidable three metres as it came up the Alberni inlet hours later, rolling into town and tossing around boats, buildings, cars, and trees like they were bathtub toys.

“It wasn’t panic. It was awe at the incredible force of these relatively small waves that came through,” recalls Port Alberni Mayor Mike Ruttan, who was 12 when the wave funneled up Alberni Inlet, amplifying its impact.

“There was a lot of damage in the harbour because in those days there were an awful lot of logs ready to go into the various sawmills.”

The waves actually lifted some homes off their foundations, destroying or damaging up to 300 buildings.

“One of my greatest memories of the tsunami is the smell and oiliness of all the muck that was brought up from the bottom of the harbour and deposited throughout the city,” Ruttan tells NEWS 1130.

Clean up took up to three months, with the army brought in to help during the first stages.

“There were a lot of local businesses that sprang up to help people clean their carpets, their drapes, their furniture. A lot of stuff was thrown out because much of people’s belongings were beyond repair, and there were houses that were moved or destroyed, but no one was hurt or killed,” he says.

Ruttan points to the creation of North America’s first tsunami early warning system as the greatest legacy of the disaster.

“We continue as a city to improve and update that system.”

It will be put to the test this week as part of Exercise Coastal Response on Vancouver Island, a four-day emergency drill involving local, provincial and federal agencies and first responders.

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