tsunami

[bbqboy]

here's some local video which will probably go away so wanted to post it before it does.
http://kdrv.com/news/local/206813
http://kdrv.com/news/local/206780
http://kdrv.com/news/local/206771
+ a youtube my friend sent from Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz Tsunami Up Close 2011

[skim82]

2:51 Is that person crazy? LOL.

[Highlander]

2:51 Is that person crazy? LOL.

Not crazy, just uninformed.  I suspect that after the first wave hit, he thought it was all over and was going to check on his boat.  Tsunami's, like all natural waves, do not exist as a single waveform. 

[heatherkay]

Also walking around oblivious as he's talking on his cell phone.

[mlind]

I saw some footage taken inside a Japanese office building.  People were standing around talking on their cell phones while the building was shaking.  No one did 'duck and cover.' 

[ignatius]

not to diminish the 2004 tsunami, which killed a lot more people, but this series of events seems otherwise broader up front.  the story of the man that was found 10 miles out to sea on his rooftop, wow.  nuclear power meltdowns. greater economic impact. reached santa cruz, CA.  the aerial views of giant blobs of encroaching water that appear alive, engulfing the city with very specific direction.  i can see how humanity in the past has observed nature and translated it as mythological entities.  nature is an awesome creation/destruction force in the true sense of the word.  the more of us that there are, the more of us to get in nature's way.

[NDTeve]

No joke...this might be the first time we've seen a disaster of this magnitude in a "developed" country. For all intensive purposes, Japan is passing the test with flying colors. In spite of huge obstacles.

[ignatius]

with the seemingly increased activity around the 'ring of fire' over the last several years, makes you wonder if it will hit the W coast to this degree sooner than later.  the US is no where near as prepared as Japan, even CA.

[IraGlacialis]

No joke...this might be the first time we've seen a disaster of this magnitude in a "developed" country. For all intensive purposes, Japan is passing the test with flying colors. In spite of huge obstacles.

What helps is the early warning systems in place. I saw a video where a guy in Japan was filming the event; the computer warning system predicted when the tremors will hit that part of the country to the point of having a countdown.
Considering the potential meltdowns on the horizon, Japan has one major hurdle to surpass. No matter the result, though I hope they are successful, you can't say that the crew aren't determined (they are resorting to using sea water, something that could severely damage the reactors beyond practical repair) despite all obstacles. Much kudos to them.

On the opposite point, I have little sympathy to those in the US who were washed away while spectating the tsunami. If you want to watch it fine, but you better be prepared for the potential consequences.

[cknab1]

Here is a great link, really lets you see the before and after damage.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011 ... l?ref=asia

[ignatius]

looks like the nuclear plant may experience a meltdown with serious leaks, which some nuclear experts say may bring a radioactive wind to tokyo within 10 hours.  can't imagine the fear those from the area must be going through... no food, water, home gone, family/friends gone and now this.  the area is told to stay indoors yet most are homeless now.  truly sad.

[mlind]

The San Andreas Fault in California is a different type of fault from that in Japan.  From what I understand, the fault in Japan is two plates and one moved on top of or under the other one.

In CA the faults move back and forth.  A report I read said due to the fault type, CA would never have a quake as large as that in Japan.  Of course, until it happens, we'll won't actually know. 

SF's mayor said that the idea that people should be able to survive on their own for 72 hours is wrong.  A week is more likely.  And then there is Katrina and New Orleans...

As the saying goes, nature bats last.

[mean]

with the seemingly increased activity around the 'ring of fire' over the last several years, makes you wonder if it will hit the W coast to this degree sooner than later.  the US is no where near as prepared as Japan, even CA.

I suspect (I'm not a geologist) that the fact that the San Andreas is on land rather than in the ocean means that while they'll get quakes, the quakes can't generate tsunamis. It seems like the epicenter needs to be underwater to create a tsunami.

You're right, though, that the US is nowhere near as prepared. It seems to me that Japan's culture has allowed what would be considered extremely intrusive and business-hostile, poverty-coddling government regulations here... which have resulted in very strict building codes and an impressive public safety net.

Of course, in Japan, taking welfare you don't need would be considered shameful; here it's like, "GIVE ME WHAT'S MINE, BITCHES!"

[KCMax]

The San Andreas Fault in California is a different type of fault from that in Japan.  From what I understand, the fault in Japan is two plates and one moved on top of or under the other one.

In CA the faults move back and forth.  A report I read said due to the fault type, CA would never have a quake as large as that in Japan.  Of course, until it happens, we'll won't actually know. 

I guess a perspective would be that the SF earthquake in 1989 that killed 63 people, injured nearly 4,000 and left 10,000 homeless was a 6.9 on the Richter scale. The Japan earthquake this week was a 9.0.

[ignatius]

The San Andreas Fault in California is a different type of fault from that in Japan.  From what I understand, the fault in Japan is two plates and one moved on top of or under the other one.

Yeah, was aware of the different fault types.  Also read it wouldn't likely generate tsunamis.  The W Coast may not get a 9.0 but they probably wouldn't be prepared for a 7.5 to 8.0.  And given the increased activity around the ring of fire, a 7.0 like 1989 in Bay Area in the wrong spot (like a nuclear power plant) could be more disastrous than last time.  Anyroad, the increased activity along the ring of fire could mean W Coast gets some action sooner than later.

A talking head in the nuclear biz was discussing how one of the plants in CA was thought to be built away from a fault line but then afterwards one was found near it.  They retrofitted the plant, got the blueprints backwards, had to rip it out and do it again.  These are the people who are building our nuclear plants, great.

[mlind]

It's not uncommon for a new fault to be discovered in CA. 

Crescent City CA was hit by the recent tsunami and previously in 1964 by the Alaska earthquake.  They have the Tsunami Mall (no kidding).

[bbqboy]

Yeah, was aware of the different fault types.  Also read it wouldn't likely generate tsunamis.  The W Coast may not get a 9.0 but they probably wouldn't be prepared for a 7.5 to 8.0.  And given the increased activity around the ring of fire, a 7.0 like 1989 in Bay Area in the wrong spot (like a nuclear power plant) could be more disastrous than last time.  Anyroad, the increased activity along the ring of fire could mean W Coast gets some action sooner than later.

A talking head in the nuclear biz was discussing how one of the plants in CA was thought to be built away from a fault line but then afterwards one was found near it.  They retrofitted the plant, got the blueprints backwards, had to rip it out and do it again.  These are the people who are building our nuclear plants, great.

Though SF was called the capitol of Cascadia in the Nine Nations of North America,
it lies below the live ring of fire.
  We up here in the PNW are in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a mirror image of Japan.
  Predictions are for a quake on the order of what hit them, a question of when, not if.
http://www.oregongeology.org/tsuclearinghouse/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/str ... scadia.php

[mlind]

With earthquakes - it's always 'when'.

Remember - one of the biggest earthquakes was on the New Madrid fault in Missouri.  There was an earthquake when I was a kid in KCK in the 1950's. 

[IraGlacialis]

Why it is unlikely for the San Andreas fault to create a tsunami, the area in the US that is of concern would be at the island of Hawaii. An area just south of Kilauea has the possibility of simply breaking off and falling into the ocean, not only putting anybody on that area in danger, but also creating a large tsunami (larger than your run-of-the-mill earthquake-born tsunami) from the resulting underwater landslide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilina_Slump

[heatherkay]

Anywhere near an ocean or sea can have a tsunami.  Like you said, it can be the result of a landslide.  Or if an impactor of some sort -- like Tunguska, say -- which they estimate hit at a pretty regular frequency.  But from a purely seismic standpoint, I think your biggest worries would be the Caribbean or the Pacific NW/AK. 

The Virgin Islands and PR have experienced tsunamis from earthquakes and undersea volcanic eruptions.  I'm not an oceanographer, but I expect that the eastern seaboard would be mostly protected from a really big destructive wave because of the relatively shallow water over the continental shelf (deep water needed for really big waves). 

The Pacific NW/AK is a bigger worry.  The faults off the coast of Oregon/Washington/BC/Alaska are not faults like San Andreas, but subduction faults more like the ones in Japan.  The 1964 magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Alaska caused a 70 meter wave in Valdez, and waves as big as 4 m in Oregon.  The relatively low loss of life and low damage estimates was based on the fact that practically nobody was living in Alaska at the time and there was no oil industry there to speak of.  There is evidence in sediment deposits of significant tsunami waves in coastal Washington state, with the most recent significant event in 1700, which was associated with an earthquake of probable magnitude similar to the quake in Japan.  Interestingly, one of the ways they can date this so precisely is historic records in Japan for a tsunami with no apparent associated local (Japanese) earthquake causing it.   

I hope the people on the west coast are taking this seriously.