Something to think about

The western US will face its own tsunami. But when? | Fox News



Are we at all prepared here for an event on the scale of 3/11?

Not really. We have a tsunami warning system here in Oregon, but in a recent test, some small town mayors opted out of the test.

This kind of event would collapse bridges and overpasses from Cape Mendocino in California, to the north end of Vancouver Island. Even though we have strong earthquake codes, they are not designed for magnitude 9 quakes. In fact, until Dr. Brian Atwater did his paleo-seismic studies, no one realized that we had that magnitude of quakes here.

Also, there are is geography here that could increase the damage. The Puget Sound may sietch, causing a runup higher than anticipated. In the Staight of Juan de Fuca, they have found driftwood from that quake and tsunami as high as 500 ft.

The isolation from the downing of the roads and railroad bridges could increase the death toll and misery should the quake happen during the winter as it did on 26Jan1700. There are many areas in population centers that are prone to slides just from excessive rain periods. Were the quake to occur during one of these periods, it would substancially increase the toll.

So, what should someone living here do about this? Plan for a basic two to three week period with no tap water, no access to food or fuel. In a house that may be no longer structurally sound, and lack windows, if it is still standing.

Will it happen in the next fifty years? Possibly. Or it could happen tomorrow, or not in the next century. We know too little about the periodicity of these quakes to be able to make a good guess in this area.
 
They had a set of articles on the issue in today's paper. Several coastal towns got badly damaged from the Japan Tsunami last year. Most of the focus was between Depot Bay in about the northern third of the Oregon Coast down to Crescent City CA.

from the Oregonian link above
NEWPORT -- One year ago, in the early hours of Friday, March 11, the Oregon Coast braced itself for the tsunami expected to be generated by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Tohoku, Japan. The water was expected to hit sometime around 7 a.m.

Long before sunrise, as untold numbers fled in the dark from parks, oceanfront homes and vacation spots, a line of cars, RVs and trailered boats formed an eerie procession along U.S. 101. Dawn opened across the Pacific, drawing scores to the headlands of Yaquina Bay State Park, where they watched for the wall of water to arrive. But as 7 a.m. came and went, the ocean appeared unchanged and they drifted off to their cars, deeming the tsunami a nonevent.

They were wrong.

Today, three ports still struggle to recover from the damage wrought by the tsunami, while emergency management teams work to learn from the events of that day.

More
The Oregonian’s continuing coverage of tsunami damage along the Oregon Coast."The lesson learned is definitely that the first wave is not necessarily the wave you need to worry about, and that these tidal surges from the tsunami will occur for hours after the initial event," said Gordon McCraw, director of Tillamook County Emergency Management. "The first wave was at about 7:45 a.m., the destructive waves didn't occur for hours after that."


Like Rocky pointed out, part of the damage was because of the shape of the bay. Instead of reducing the damage, it can intensify it.

In theory, this area is very active. I live on the side of a volcano here inside the city limits of Portland. In practice things are the level of quiet one associates with something really big and nasty getting ready to knock our socks off. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but on some day sooner than we are ready for we are in for a serious shock
 

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