The Daily - Genie Chance and the Great Alaska Earthquake: An Update

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran. When Alaska was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1964, it was the voice of Genie Chance — a journalist, wife and mother — that held the state together in the aftermath. In the episode, we heard about sociologists from Ohio State University’s Disaster Research Center rushing to Anchorage to study residents’ behavior. Today, Jon Mooallem, who brought us Genie’s story in May, speaks to a sociologist from the University of Delaware to make sense of the current moment and how it compares with the fallout of the Great Alaska Earthquake. Guest: Jon Mooallem, writer at large for The New York Times Magazine and author of “This Is Chance!,” a book about the aftermath of the earthquake. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here. Background Reading: For our Opinion section, Jon Mooallem wrote about the lessons of the 1964 earthquake.Listen to Jon talk about his experience writing and researching for his book about the aftermath of the disaster on an episode of The Times’s Book Review podcast. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Duration: 1h 0m
Broadcast on: 31 Dec 2020
Audio Format: other

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.

When Alaska was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1964, it was the voice of Genie Chance — a journalist, wife and mother — that held the state together in the aftermath.

In the episode, we heard about sociologists from Ohio State University’s Disaster Research Center rushing to Anchorage to study residents’ behavior.

Today, Jon Mooallem, who brought us Genie’s story in May, speaks to a sociologist from the University of Delaware to make sense of the current moment and how it compares with the fallout of the Great Alaska Earthquake.

Guest: Jon Mooallem, writer at large for The New York Times Magazine and author of “This Is Chance!,” a book about the aftermath of the earthquake.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background Reading:

For our Opinion section, Jon Mooallem wrote about the lessons of the 1964 earthquake.
Listen to Jon talk about his experience writing and researching for his book about the aftermath of the disaster on an episode of The Times’s Book Review podcast.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. Hey, it's Michael. This week, the Daily is revisiting our favorite episodes of the year, listening back, and hearing what's happened in the time since they first ran. Today, Jeannie Chance and The Great Alaska Earthquake. It's Thursday, December 31st. Well, I suppose you want to know where I was when this disaster took place. I was driving on my way home, and I began to feel that the car I had just purchased was a lemon because the wheels appeared to be running off the car. I managed to stop the car, and I looked in stupa faction at the road about 10 feet ahead of me and saw the road break open. And then, like two big halves of a huge sandwich, start moving like scissors back and forth. One half moving in one direction, the other half moving in the other direction.

And all the time, while watching the road, it suddenly dawned on me that this was not an ordinary disaster, that it was perhaps one of the greatest disasters to hit North America. I kept thinking, what will Alaskans do now? What will Alaskans do now? (gentle music) (gentle music) - There are moments when the world we take for granted instantaneously changes. When reality is abruptly upended and the unimaginable overwhelms real life. We don't walk around thinking about that instability, but we know it's always there. At random, and without warning, the kind of terrible magic can switch on and scramble our lives.

Transcription truncated.