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SAN FRANCISCO – This was one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, a magnitude 8.8 monster off the east coast of Russia.
Despite its remote location, the magnitude of the earthquake quickly poses a potential tsunami risk, bringing to important zones of the Earth, including Japan, Canada and the United States. Tsunami alerts quickly left and covered millions of people, including the entire US West Coast.
But because of its strength, the trembling was not a catastrophe. The dangerous waves that rose over ten feet were never materialized outside of Russia. There again, authorities had not received reports of death, and the damage appeared to be limited.
“In this case, we mostly dodged the bullet,” said Minecrafter, Harbaughmaster at Crescent City Harbour, where we saw the Alaska Mega Kueiki in 1964 and the fatal tsunami in 2011.
These events represent the worst-case scenario, while Temblor on Tuesday represents the best-case scenario.
After the tsunami passes, people gather at the jetty in Santa Monica.
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“In a tsunami, location and direction are everything,” said Nathan Wood, a tsunami scientist at the US Geological Survey.
Damage occurred in an area near the epicenter off the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia, but it was sparsely populated. Videos from the town of Severo Krilsk, located on an island just off the peninsula, show the buildings being wiped out.
However, in far-reaching regions, initial modelling suggests that tsunami energy had time to weaken before it was directed towards the open Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Hawaii, almost to the more populated region.
“It’s kind of like a shot between those two [states]Wood said.
The tsunami “impacted the community right next to the source.” [earthquake] Wood said. “But for everyone else, we quickly shot this empty corridor between the Aleutian Islands chain and the Hawaiian islands.
“So, like in California, Oregon, a lot of energy was dissipating by the time we got to the west coast,” Wood said.
Russia saw the tsunami waves at 16 feet, but Tsunami Heights was the largest at 4 feet in Crescent City, 3 feet in Arena Cove in Mendocino County, 2.7 feet in Port San Luis Obispo County, 2.6 feet in Point Rayes in Marine County and 1.5 feet in Monterry. In Southern California, the total was even smaller.
The highest wave in the United States was 5.7 feet in Karui, Hawaii, Maui.
“It’s a relatively good day,” Sen. Mike McGuire, who represents the large strip of Northern California’s coast, said Wednesday.
The widespread alert issued after the earthquake crashed at 4:25pm Tuesday sparked concerns across the Pacific as scientists competed to predict how extensive the tsunami would be. The tremor of magnitude 8.8 ranks as the sixth most powerful earthquake recorded in the last 125 years.
First tsunami advisory on the west coast on Tuesday evening.
(NOAA/National Weather Service)
But by Tuesday evening, the National Tsunami Warning Center forecast shows that Crescent city is likely to close off at less than five feet, with locations like San Francisco and the Port of Los Angeles being less than one foot.
Dave Snyder, tsunami warning coordinator at Alaska’s National Tsunami Warning Center, said it may be too early to assess how much damage the tsunami caused, but “it may be true, but this may not have been that bad.”
“If the energy focus of this tsunami is not immediately pointed out on your shoreline, the impact on you could be fairly limited,” Snyder said.
The magnitude of the earthquake is important, but it “is about how much of the water moved and the direction that the energy pointed to the coastline,” Snyder said. “In this case it appears they weren’t focusing on the strength of other known events on the California coastline.”
There are other tsunami scenarios in California that pose far greater risks. One includes almost coastal tsunamis, including a magnitude 9 earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone just off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.
Depending on the intensity and location of the earthquake, life-threatening waves can approach the coastline in just 10 minutes. Perhaps there isn’t even enough time for an emergency warning to be issued.
Land tsunamis from other offshore earthquakes could bring waves of 6 feet above sea level on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, 8 feet on Long Beach and Santa Monica Pier, 9 feet on Malibu and 30 feet on Catalina Island.
Another worst-case scenario is that a major Alaska earthquake causes a tsunami to California. The largest projected remote source tsunami could bring waves above average sea level at Santa Monica Pier and Marina del Rey, 32 feet, on Ocean Beach, San Juan Cisco.
Tsunami alert recognition has improved over the years, according to USGS research geophysicist Eric Geist.
“Fortunately, there were a few things operating right next to the subduction zone in Kamchatka,” Geist said. “So we knew it was really fast, a tsunami and something pretty big was being produced.”
One of the tragedy of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was the lack of warning.
To support the issue is that this week’s tsunami hit California when there was no tide.
The massive warning provided another opportunity to deal with the tsunami as California officials were urging experts to urge preparations to both public and government agencies.
In December, tsunami warnings from the earthquake about 30 miles from the Humboldt County coast prompted a clearly uneven response in Northern California.
It was the first time that the San Francisco Gulf region has received a “nearly on land” tsunami warning with little time to evacuate, and the response showed that the public had little awareness of whether they lived or worked in the tsunami danger zone.
Finally, only a small tsunami measured at 5 centimeters was recorded in December.
Even Tuesday night was a problem. A geological survey in California recently updated the tsunami hazard map. This shows locations in California where tsunami flooding is at risk. The state website crashed again. The website failed repeatedly during the December 2024 tsunami warning, but this time media outlets, including the Times, have made the interactive version available.
However, other efforts in preparation for the tsunami have produced fruit.
In Crescent City, authorities said the “H” dock, which had a structurally unsuccessful during the tsunami on Wednesday morning – actually worked as designed.
“The ‘H’ dock was designed as a wave and current attenuator with closely spaced piles, which is specially designed to destroy and dissipate tsunami energy before it reaches the inner port,” says Rademaker. “The sacrificial role in the overall design therefore worked as intended, was borne by the brunt of the surge and helped to protect more interior docks.”
Crescent City Harbor was completely destroyed during the 2011 tsunami and was also damaged by the 2006 tsunami. The statewide total of tsunami damage in 2011 was estimated at over $100 million. One of the people in 2011 passed away after being swept into the sea while taking photos of the tsunami. The 2011 Crescent City Tsunami came to the top at 8 feet.
The 1964 Alaska earthquake devastated the Crescent City, washed away 29 blocks and caused a devastating tsunami that killed at least 11 people. The surge reached 21 feet above average low tide.
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