The caldera inside the first US national park gets its nickname of supervolcano due to its ability to inflict devastation globally. Located below the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the area is constantly monitored by the USGS (United States Geological Survey) for signs that a super eruption is on the way. While most of these incidents are not close to the levels necessary to trigger an eruption, the 1959 Lake Hebgen earthquake that occurred on August 17, 1959 was a different story.
The 7.3 magnitude earthquake caused massive damage, including 28 deaths and a considerable £ 9 million (£ 200,000,000 today) in road and lumber repairs.
Mildred Greene, a registered nurse from Montana, camped out with her husband Ramon and their young son, Steve, at Rock Creek camp that night.
Recalling the events, he told the United States Forest Service in 2011: “We had been on vacation and this was our last week, and we camped just the day before the earthquake.
“And Stephen had been sick, so he was at the same end as the tent with us, we had an 18 foot tent and when the earthquake started, it was like the ground with the waves of the ocean.
“The noise that you can’t imagine, I looked through the store’s trap and saw this wall of water, rocks, trees and whatever, because it was a beautiful full moon night.
“But after that, you couldn’t see anything from the dust.”
Ms. Greene continued to reveal how her family attempted to flee the scene, but soon realized the gravity of the situation.
She added: “I yelled at Ray ‘let’s get out of here’ and he reached out and grabbed Steve, who was just an arm and a head, because that part of the store had collapsed.
“We left the store and I left a blank for a while, but the next thing I remember was having Steve in the front seat of the truck and Ray was trying to move him and he didn’t move.
READ MORE: Yellowstone Volcano: How ‘Terrifying’ Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake ‘Made Ground’
“The people on the other side of the road from us had the river on the other side of them and they were seriously injured.
“I don’t know how many people I cared for then, the mind has a wonderful way of forgetting things, as well as age!
“But we ended up taking care of several people before someone said we had to get out of there because the dam was leaving [to collapse].
“We got on the road because it was higher than the rest and I think I got into the truck and got on the refugee point and that’s where I took care of the injured people for the rest of the night.”
