The occurrence of a severe earthquake beneath the bottom of Prince William Sound at approximately 5:37 P.M. on 3/27/64 provided severe shock waves to the entire southcentral portion of Alaska for a period of approximately eight minutes. The shocks were felt with considerable severity in the city of Seward and resulted immediately in rupture of certain oil tanks or lines at the Standard Oil storage installation there, with spreading of oil fires within the tank farm and along the surface of the sea at shoreline and along the Alaska Railroad tracks through a series of tank cars to a Texaco tank farm approximately one-half mile distant.