Book excerpt: It’s another normal day in Alaska, where the beauty of the rugged landscape makes the hardships of winter worth enduring. This Northern life is good, you think, when suddenly—without warning—your world is ROCKED! The ground sways beneath your feet with sickening force. You’ve just been caught in the second strongest earthquake in history! Witness to Disaster: Earthquakes uses eyewitness accounts and pulse-racing narrative to bring readers into the terrifying heart of an earthquake. The first chapter documents the 1964 Alaskan quake that shook Prince William Sound with a 9.2 magnitude force, and set off a tsunami that ultimately caused most of the deaths attributed to this frightening act of nature. The following chapters explore the deadly history of earthquakes and the seismic and geological science of this phenomenon. Readers learn how and why earthquakes occur, and what scientists can do to prevent casualties. The expansive back matter includes a list of sources to discover more about these fearsome catastrophes.