Let me explain something, perhaps not very well,

[nadinbrzezinski]

that one of the guys at Pacific Tsunami Center explained to us lowly Navy Wives (interested in this shit) while hubby was stationed in Hawaii. Nor do expect the media to explain this.

When a tsunami is generated, at this point of the science we KNOW one generated. We know the wave amplitude... and their frequency. They can also predict travel times and when they will hit the other side of the world. They know they will, if generated, energy has to go somewhere. What they do not know... is WHEN a tsunami on the other side will be more than just lapping water at the beach at a higher level. They know it happens, see this photo from Haawii...



Yes that was a tsunami generated by a quake in Japan, and why we have a Pacific Warning Center and Hawaii has a hell of a civil defense system for this crap.

They think it has to do with direction of wave, how it reacts with the substrate as it forms onto a wave, tide conditions and a few other things. They just cannot predict WHEN they will become a damaging one,

So they of course, issue the warnings, prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

Was Hawaii hit? Yes... fortunately it was just surf's up. Will the west coast get hit? Absolutely... will this be the 20 meter wave that the media wanted to see off the San Fran Coast? Well not quite... the generated tsunami was not that high to begin with. But in this respect I also blame our poor scientific understanding of this, and when it comes to Tsunamis, they should be taken seriously until they prove to be like 99% of them on the other side of the world.

[LoZoccolo]

1. It sounds like you are responding to another OP.

[hobbit709]

2. "When in danger or in doubt. Run in circles, scream and shout"

Is easier for most people than to stop and think about it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Actually the 1947 tsunami killed hundreds in Hawaii

and the run in circles is more like GO TO HIGHER GROUND.

Instead of the ever so popular, but look water is going off the beach, let's go find out and get some fish.

Now the press does not explain this, because the press does not know this.

99% will be slightly higher water... it is the other 1%.

And I wonder how many folks did DIE or lose stuff overnight in places like oh Tonga and Rabaul? There is wasn't just lapping water on the beach, closer to the event, Hawii got waves up to 2 meters.

[hobbit709]

8. I was thinking more of the panickers here.

Me, if I was anywhere near the coast during a quake, I'd be heading for the hills as soon as i could get up and run.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. We are at the coast

we chose not to run

Family in Hawaii that is near the coast though, they did.

For us it was the direction of wave and a few other factors. It is lapping right about now...

[LynneSin]

3. I think Tsunami are very serious business however...

After the Chilean earthquake last year, I don't think the news stations need to devote 24x7 to see if one will hit. It seemed almost desperate with the coverage the all the news channels gave waiting for some 50ft wave to hit - they spent hours waiting and got nothing.

Instead have the news there ready to go but go about your business with the rest of the world. If something hits then do a news-break.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. They are hoping for the 1%

and sadly you will not know if this is it until your nearby tide gauges go up. This one came from the north, our coast is awash with them. So once it hit Oregon they could make very informed observations that it was going to be oh five feet in San Fran.

[RandomThoughts]

4. They said it was 13 feet high in japan.

So for every distance, where the area of the circle doubles, the size of the wave would be cut in half. There is an easy formula to find how many times the original wave is halved while traveling a distance.


Area of circle is R^2 * pi
So where (R1^2 * pi) = (R2^2 * pi) * 2 then the size of the wave would be half as much. Just a guess, sorta makes sense. R2-R1 would be distance traveled to reduce wave size by factor of 2.

So if it was a few miles off shore to create a 13 feet wave at Japan, then every few miles away from epicenter the size of wave would be half as big, or the 'wave effect' on West coast USA would be a few inches if anything.

Unless the media was off on the size in the comment about 13 feet size wave at Sendai, or if the range from center of fault line was many miles from shore.

[reggie the dog]

11. 10 to 13 meters is what i heard on the bbc

which is about 40 feet

[RandomThoughts]

12. Maybe they said 13 meters.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. From the image on the BBC that was meters not feet

13 meters that be about forty feet

[CommonSensePLZ]

13. Probably.

The one in Indonesia was about that high, similar magnitude and distance from the epicenter.

[uppityperson]

5. This was a huge quake, better to be warned than not. You forgot a couple things though

Earthquakes have happened for aeons, LONG before humans were around, LONG before we were involved with oil.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. The ice melting and reduding the pressure on the crust though

is still one people are seriously looking at.

This has happened in geologic times as well.