On March 27, 1964, the largest recorded earthquake in North American history struck off the coast of Alaska. (It was also the second strongest earthquake ever recorded worldwide.) The magnitude 9.2 quake lasted more than 4 minutes and caused soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground damage in Alaska, and the resulting tsunamis caused destruction down much of the west coast of North America and as far away as Japan and Hawaii. In all, 131 people died.
The city of Anchorage, 75 miles northwest of the quake’s epicenter, suffered most of the physical devastation in Alaska. Downtown was heavily damaged, and some of the outer neighborhoods were caught in landslides. It was chaos. But from this scenario emerged an unlikely hero.
Genie Broadfoot Chance was one of the first women in broadcasting in Alaska, first working at KENI radio and television and later at KFQD radio. When the quake hit, she stayed on the air at the damaged KENI studio for 59 hours straight, providing urgent information, coordinating rescue and response efforts, and helping families reunite. For her work during and after the quake, she received the top award from the Alaska Press Club for 3 years running, and the “Golden Mike” award from McCall’s womens magazine.
Concordia Studios has now tapped Ol Parker, director of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and writer for both Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies, to direct an adaptation of Jon Mooallem’s recent book about Chance, This Is Chance!: The Shaking of an All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together.
Studio cofounder Jonathan King will be producing the movie, and Mooallem will serve an executive producer. Parker and King previously worked together on the Marigold Hotel movies, and King believes that Parker is the right man for this new job.
“I know from our time together on the Marigold Hotel movies that Ol Parker has a rare talent for understanding characters under stress and then bringing them to life with warm affection and emotional depth,” said
King.
No word on when production is to begin, but presumably filming will take place in The Last Frontier.
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