At approximately 10:15 PM Pacific Time, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck the Fairweather Fault in Southeast Alaska triggering a massive landslide that caused 30 million cubic metres of rock and ice to fall into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay. From variations in the height of the trimline, Miller inferred that part of the wave had washed over the spur while the rest of it crossed the bay diagonally and struck the south side near Mudslide Creek, creating the second highest trimline. The move that I just made looks like this: 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami → 1958 Lituya Bay, Alaska earthquake and megatsunami. (Photo: Paul Swanstrom), A flying boat dropped Paddy Sherman’s mountaineering expedition at Lituya Bay on June 17, 1958. There were 2 incredibly lucky fishermen in their boat on the Bay when the megatsunami happened, and they lived to tell about it. The lighthouse at Harbor Point and the cabin on Cenotaph Island were both gone without a trace. The site of the mountaineers' camp was scoured down to bedrock. The strike-slip earthquake took place on the Fairweather Fault and triggered a rockslide of 40 million cubic yards (30 million cubic meters and about 90 million tons) into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay, Alaska. As the wall of water rushed down the inlet, Ulrich found that that his anchor was hopelessly stuck. Once over the bay, they could not land because its entire surface was strewn with tree trunks and giant blocks of ice. Twenty-one of his men perished in the tidal current in the bay. In 2016, an entire mountainside failed and ran out onto the Lamplugh Glacier. Miller, USGS/Wikimedia Commons). Miller was not around to study these, as he had drowned on the Kiagna River with a young assistant in 1961. The Sunmore (S) and Badger (B) were anchored in Anchorage Cove, while the Edrie (E) was anchored in the small cove behind the Paps hills. At Yakutat, bridges, docks, and oil lines were damaged, a water tower fell, and a few cabins were destroyed. Two of the deaths were the Wagners, who had tried to flee Lituya Bay aboard the Sunmore; they were never seen again. It’s also possible that big landslides are becoming more common as glaciers retreat, removing support from the lower slopes of steep valleys. This was so big that it is known scientifically as a megatsunami. People living in coastal communities should understand how megatsunamis happen and what to do if they are near the water when they feel an earthquake or witness a large slide (hint: run uphill). On July 10, 1958, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred on the Fairweather Fault in southeast Alaska. Don Miller, the geologist, was on a USGS barge in Glacier Bay when the earthquake struck. This is a sampling of small clips of 8 mm film transferred to DVD. Distinct trimlines—demarcations in the vegetation with young growth below and old growth above—showed where unusually large waves had torn through the bay and run up hillsides as high as 490 feet. There, a collapsing bluff started a wave that killed four people and caused much damage in the village of Nuugaatsiaq. The combination of steep slopes rising directly out of the sea, rapid erosion from glaciers and heavy coastal precipitation, and frequent earthquakes all contribute to frequent landslides capable of causing tsunamis. Some of the material landed on the toe of Tyndall Glacier, but enough of it slammed into the water to, Large earthquakes sometimes start the landslides that cause megatsunamis, as in Lituya Bay, but not always. That was not the case in 2015, when 180 million tons of rock—the largest non-volcanic landslide ever documented in North Amerca—into Taan Fjord, an inlet of Icy Bay. 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