It Can’t Happen Here?
By John
Davis
Tsunamis can be viewed from space
or high ground. But the worst possible viewing location is on the beach with no
plan of escape. Only after the Indian Ocean wave is the world paying attention
again, and hopefully learning.
Native coastal peoples pass down legends
from father to son and mother to daughter about great waves. But our
contemporary society views them as more of a Hollywood undertaking than
reality.
In Venice and Marina del Rey
we are not Tsunami Ready. The City and County of Los Angeles downplay the risk
by hoping only a three-foot wave may come. Even a three footer can travel inland
up to three-quarters of a mile. You could not stand in that fast wave full of
debris. And if that wave happened at a very high tide in conjunction with an El
Niño year the damage could be far
worse.
In fact, the risk of much bigger
waves are presented by the Malibu, Palos Verdes, Redondo, Santa Barbara, and San
Clemente faults, to name but a few. These are the most dangerous for Venice and
MDR. While the U.S. does have the world’s best tsunami early warning
system, it is only geared to give us hours of advance warning from seismic waves
generated further away. Locally generated tsunamis can arrive in mere minutes.
The only warning will be the quake
itself.
It has happened
here!
• On Dec. 21, 1812 an
earthquake offshore of Santa Barbara spawned the largest recorded tsunami waves
ever in California. The 8.3 quake produced five destructive seismic waves. One
wave even reached the Santa Barbara Presidio after ripping through everything
else in its path. The U.S. Geological survey gauged the highest wave at 48-50 ft
above sea level.
• In 1964 the
Alaskan wave swept down the Pacific seaboard, wiping out a lot of the
proto-Marina del Rey.
• In 1998
on the other side of the world an onshore earthquake caused an undersea canyon
to slump down (like an avalanche) causing a localized 50 ft wave that wiped out
2200 people. But only on that island; other nearby islands were not affected.
Scientists investigating this
unusual event realized for the first time that very localized seismic waves
could occur. They also determined the geologic conditions in Santa Monica Bay
are no different except for one. Local tsunami waves would bounce around or
reflect around the bay like a giant pinball machine so waves could be even more
damaging, hammering away for hours.
The
City and County do not want to depress the fast-growing real estate prices in
Venice by admitting these risks exist. Other newspapers do not want to offend
real estate companies who advertise with them. And Playa Vista sure as hell
wants this hard science buried so they can get federally subsidized FEMA flood
insurance. So who wins and who
loses?
Money is exchanged for public
safety. I have personally pleaded with the California Coastal Commission to help
Venice and MDR at least create evacuation routes to higher ground and to post
signs on the beach so people know what to do when a temblor hits. All to no
avail, they just sat there eating sandwiches and listening to their cell phone
marching orders.
The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration supports Tsunami Ready Communities. Of all the
prepared communities in the U.S. there is only one in California, Crescent City.
Its waterfront was wiped out by the 1964 Alaskan
event.
Venice should lead the way and
be the first Southern California community to implement the recommendations of
the federal government to prepare for Tsunami emergencies. And we must demand
our elected officials not downplay the worst
case.
If you live in a low-lying
coastal area and a quake hits so hard you cannot stand, seek high ground and
wait till the coast is clear, so to speak. Listen to radio
reports.
If a large quake occurs while
you are at the beach seek high ground. Do not watch the water recede far from
shore. And do not walk to the sea to investigate. Follow evacuation signs if any
are in place.
The danger here is not
digital Hollywood waves, but real big, bad ass, thundering Venice Tsunamis. Just
get outta their way.
TSUNAMI
READY
http://wcatwc.gov/tsunamiready/tready.htm
LOTS
OF TSUNAMI
PICTURES
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/slideset/tsunamis
Posted: Sat
- January 1, 2005 at 07:43 PM