Disaster: The Will to Survive - Discovery Channel (1993)

Discovery Channel documentary from 1993 about the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, the 1964 Alaska Earthquake, and a mine disaster in northeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-20th century.

[@jaggg.3821]

I lived through that October 17, 1989, World Series Quake. We lived in a geographic area known as West, Oakland CA. In fact my mom had just driven off the Cypress Freeway. Which is what we residence often called that Freeway instead of it's Birth Name aka The 880 Nimitz Freeway. I was in 3rd grade at the time of this Quake. Mom's original Plan had been to drive too San Francisco to get food from Japan Town (it is actually referred too by that name), instead Something told my Mom get off the Freeway Now. Even so my mom used too tell my big brother and I that someday The Cypress Freeway will fall. When that happen's she'll attempt to drive to the side of the Freeway; we were too take our Seat Belts off. Once out on the side of Freeway we were too Jump. Mom said she'd rather have us get a broken arm or leg rather than be Dead were something to happen with The Cypress. She did practice drills for Us just in case something were to happened with The Cypress Freeway.

[@inkyguy]

HAM (amateur shortwave) radio operator were absolutely critical to emergency and recovery communications, a voluntary system that still exists to this day. So great was their contribution that the federal government printed a U.S. postage stamp in their honor.

[@inkyguy]

From IMDb: “The only son and namesake of the famed broadcaster, author and adventurer, Lowell Thomas, Lowell Thomas, Jr., after fighting in World War II, headed north to Alaska where he made his own name as a pilot (he owned a flight service that took tourists to the tops of glaciers), politician (he served as Lieutenant Governor of the state of Alaska from 1974 to 1978), author, conservationist and adventurer.” He died in Anchorage in 2016 at the age of 92. His wife Mary Taylor "Tay" Pryor predeceased him in 2014.

[@inkyguy]

Because this is dated, not all of the information is accurate. The final Richter scale measurement was not 8.6, but in fact 9.3. The largest of the tsunamis, recorded in Shoup Bay, Alaska, had a height of about 220 feet (67 m)! The final death toll was approximately 131 people, including five in Oregon from the result of a tsunami.

[@CJODell12]

From 1993.

[@inkyguy]

It may have been broadcast by the Discovery Channel in 1993, but the component parts from which it is assembled are certainly much older. These independent parts appear to have been produced within a year or two of the disasters. It’s a quick and easy way to produce something for a quick return: assemble separate documentaries, reportage, and film which were either free or cheap to acquire into a single commercial title for distribution on a cable network.