Nov 19, 2009 12:14 am US/Pacific
California's Tsunami Threat
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
Tsunami -- Japanese for "harbor wave."
Tsunami's obliterate towns, and have taken hundreds of thousands of lives. And now scientists have determined that California's coastal communities are under a greater threat for devastating tsunamis.
Even the little ones do big damage.
In 2006, a very small tsunami inflicted $20 million worth of damage to the new harbor in Crescent City, California. So the potential for lives lost, and billions in damage, is real -- more now than ever.
Tsunamis, like the one that hit American-Samoa on September 29, leave a trail of death and destruction in their wake.
"Lord Jesus Christ, give us the power to accept what is going on here," says the couple on one clip of home video shot during the tsunami there.
Fifteen-foot surges rolled in; 119 people died.
The first wave hit Indonesia on December 26, 2004.
Two-hundred-thirty thousand people lose their lives in 11 countries around the Indian Ocean. Nothing this devastating has ever hit the United States. But, many wonder if it could.
Rick Wilson is a geologist with the California Geological Survey, and he's in the business of determining northern California's tsunami hazards. To do it, he looks north to Alaska.
"That particular puzzle, if we get a better feel for it, will give us a better understanding of the entire tsunami hazard for California" he says.
A piece of that puzzle is a recent study of earthquake faults off the coast of Alaska. It has scientists now believing that the California coast may be at a higher risk of being hit by a devastating tsunami.
"There are other pieces, and we're just trying to fit them together to determine what and how bad it really could be," says Wilson.
Scientists now say the worst case scenario for northern California will come from a multiple-fault rupture off the Alaska coast. The tsunami it produces will travel 500 miles per hour in open-ocean and slow to about 30 miles per hour as it slams a 20-30 foot wave onto many shores of northern California.
Four hundred miles north of Sacramento sits the seaside town of Crescent City, California. It, and the lives of its people, was forever-changed on March 27, 1964 by an earthquake off the coast of Alaska. That earthquake generated a tsunami that inundated 29 city blocks, caused an estimated $15 million in damage, and killed 11 people.
"It just come right in through there and just kept coming" remembers Ray Young, Crescent City resident.
The surge came onshore in the early evening and rushed five blocks in.
"Now see, that's this building right here" he says while showing photos from the 1964 devastation of his family bakery. Water raged six feet deep.
"The water just picked up everything, tore it loose from the ground and everything. You just can't imagine the strength of that water" he says.
In a matter of hours, his bakery along with the appliance store next door, businesses, and homes were destroyed.
"There was no savin' anything," said Ray.
"Lives were lost, people's livelihoods, very sad" says Ernestine Bazzini, recalling the overwhelming impact of the surge.
She also survived the tsunami, and remembers how everyone seemed to be in a lingering state of shock.
"There was a lot of wandering, a lot of walking. I think because they had nothing else to do" she says.
"It's a potential problem for all of California" says Dr. Lori Dengler, a professor of geology at Humboldt State University.
Dr. Dengler is the go-to expert on tsunamis in California. She acknowledges that this new rise in risk for California helps her and others reassess future tsunami hazards -- and not just those in Crescent City.
"Folks in San Francisco, and the other counties that are bordering the bay, need to be aware of how does this change their perception of tsunami risk," said Dr. Dengler.
Another threat lies 50 miles off the northern California coast. It's called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. A fault rupture there could generate a large tsunami wave estimated at 45 feet high as it hit the coast; and that would happen in less than 30 minutes.
People in Samoa had a mere 15 minutes warning before waves hit.
But thanks to a recently improved tsunami detection and warning system throughout the Pacific Ocean, northern California would have four hours to prepare for a tsunami coming from Alaska. However, it may not help much in the event of a Cascadia quake.
"And my goal is that the next major earthquake event we have here that produces a tsunami, that not a single person dies" she says.
To make that possible, it takes education and awareness.
Now protecting Crescent City is a seawall of tsunami-resistant tetrapods weighing 25 tons each, siren warning systems, and signs marking evacuation routes.
Determined folks like Ray Young and Ernestine Bazzini know that another tsunami will hit them again. But they remained, and have relied on those protections since rebuilding their lives 45 years ago.
"Well, it was a struggle but we made it," said Ray.
December 26 will mark the 5th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Around that time, the state will release its newly revised predictions for tsunami hazards.
To learn more, and to check the localized flood area levels maps when they're released in December, click here. http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/geologic_hazards/tsunami/pages/index.aspx)
To see a list of the 17 tsunami-ready communities in California, click here. http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/tsunamiready/ts-com/ca-ts.htm), click the links.
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