If big quake hits off coast, tsunami could be gigantic

[davidinalameda]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/13/MNGTND7JQJ1.DTL&type=science

If a giant magnitude 9 earthquake strikes someday along the coast of the Pacific Northwest, or if, against all odds, an errant asteroid plunges into the ocean many miles off California, a monstrous tsunami could drown low- lying lands all up and down the continent's western edge -- and now a UC Santa Cruz scientist has calculated the sweep of such an event.

Spurred by the tragedy of December's great Sumatra quake and the hundreds of thousands of deaths claimed by the waves that swept across the Indian Ocean, geophysicist Steven Ward has estimated the heights that a similar quake- spawned tsunami would reach, running up along the shores from British Columbia as far south as the tip of Baja California.

[pscot]

1. We can only hope

n/t

[Sugarbleus]

3. ??????????

[lazarus]

2. In other news

if a nuclear bomb goes off, destruction will ensue. :hi:

Actually, that's pretty cool, because San Diego will only get 5 feet. Yeah, it'll mess up downtown some, but the place we're moving is pretty much out of danger.

[Duer 157099]

4. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center - Issued 15 JUN 2005

...what? are you psychic????

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2005/usziae/

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/wmsg

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0259Z 15 JUN 2005

THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT
ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

... TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ...

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING
OR WATCH IN EFFECT.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0251Z 15 JUN 2005
COORDINATES - 41.3 NORTH 125.7 WEST
LOCATION - OFF COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAGNITUDE - 7.4

EVALUATION

NO DESTRUCTIVE PACIFIC-WIDE TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON
HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.

HOWEVER - EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL
TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN
A HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES
IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS
POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS
FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

WEPA41 PAAQ 150409
TSUWCA

TO - TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM PARTICIPANTS IN
ALASKA/BRITISH COLUMBIA/WASHINGTON/OREGON/CALIFORNIA
FROM - WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WARNING BULLETIN - FINAL
BULLETIN NUMBER 2
ISSUED 06/15/2005 AT 0409 UTC

...THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH STATUS IS CANCELED FOR
CALIFORNIA - OREGON - WASHINGTON - BRITISH COLUMBIA - AND
ALASKA...

EARTHQUAKE DATA
PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE - 7.4
LOCATION - 41.4N 125.6W - 85 MILES NW OF EUREKA-CA.
300 MILES NW OF SAN FRANCISCO-CA.
TIME - 1851 ADT 06/14/2005
1951 PDT 06/14/2005
0251 UTC 06/15/2005

A SMALL TSUNAMI WAS OBSERVED AT THE FOLLOWING SITES
WATER LEVELS REMAIN NORMAL AT ALL COASTAL SITES. NO WAVE
BEEN DETECTED.

EVALUATION
NO TSUNAMI DANGER EXISTS FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA -
WASHINGTON - OREGON OR CALIFORNIA. HOWEVER SOME AREAS MAY
EXPERIENCE SMALL SEA LEVEL CHANGES. AS LOCAL CONDITIONS
CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE ALL
CLEAR DETERMINATIONS MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

$$
PKZ032-031-042-034-033-035-041-036-PZZ130-131-133-134-132-
135-150-153-156-110-250-210-255-350-353-356-450-455-550-
530-535-555-670-673-650-655-750-AKZ023-024-025-026-028-029-
027-WAZ001-002-005-006-007-008-009-010-011-013-014-015-016-
021-ORZ001-002-021-022-CAZ001-002-005-007-006-075-074-009-
034-035-039-040-046-041-042-043-150508-
COASTAL AREAS OF CALIFORNIA - OREGON - WASHINGTON - BRITISH
COLUMBIA - AND ALASKA.

...THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH STATUS IS CANCELED FOR
CALIFORNIA - OREGON - WASHINGTON - BRITISH COLUMBIA - AND
ALASKA...

$$

THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE A FINAL BULLETIN.

THIS WILL BE THE LAST WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING
CENTER WATCH/WARNING BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT.
THIS INFORMATION IS ALSO POSTED AT WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.
$$

[Technowitch]

5. Fortunately, the warning's just been cancelled. (n/t)

[Coastie for Truth]

6. I put my scanner on

Scanned the 160mHz series weather stations, and my local fire department's dispatch and working frequencies (155.025, 154.115 plus a bunch others) - just the normal traffic - but I heard that the tsunami watch was cancelled 15-20 minutes before KRON4 had it on their crawl.

[davidinalameda]

7. I live on the bay but I've been told that I don't have to worry

since I live on the eastern part--SF will take the brunt

I'm just worried about my rent going up in case my area becomes ocean front property

[Coastie for Truth]

8. I live in San Jose, in the Coyote Creek-Guadalupe Flood Plain

and my son lives in a "low lying" area of Palo Alto. Figure if we get hit - there's no place to go.

[MaryBear]

9. One thing you can count on, dwickham.

Your rent will go up regardless. lol.