Fifty years ago today, the ground heaved, buckled and roiled as an enormous earthquake struck in Alaska's Prince William Sound near the town of Valdez. Lasting 3 minutes (something we don't even want to think about), the magnitude 9.2 quake is the second-largest ever recorded. When all had settled, 131 people were dead. Most, including 11 people in Crescent City, Calif., were killed by tsunamis the quake sent crashing ashore along the northern Pacific Ocean rim. From Asia to South America, coastlines were flooded by waves that had come from Alaska. In Valdez Inlet, the waves reached heights of more than 200 feet. The animation above shows how these waves might have traveled over 20 hours from their epicenter to shores as far away as northern Chile.

Video: Pacific Tsunami Warning Center/YouTube