Tsunami tips for Coastsiders

A 1946 tsunami drenched Half Moon Bay and drowned a man in Santa Cruz, according to "The Tsunami of 1946 and 1960 and the Devastation of Hilo Town," by Walt Dudley and Scott C.S. Stone. Meanwhile, scientists have come to the conclusion that an earthquake at 9pm on Jan. 27, 1700 created a tsunami as powerful as the Indian Ocean wave on the Pacific Coast of North America. They believe that tsunamis occur here an average of once every 375 years.

So, you might want take at look at the online brochure about tsunami preparedness from Western States Seismic Policy Council, which includes the basic facts about previous tsunamis in California. According to WSSPC,

Since 1812, the California coast has had 14 tsunamis with wave heights higher than three feet; six of these were destructive. The Channel Islands were hit by a big tsunami in the early 1800s. The worst tsunami resulted from the 1964 Alaskan earthquake and caused 12 deaths and at least $17 million in damages in northern California.

The map at right comes from the Association of Bay Area Governments. It’s a screen capture from a really slow Java map. I did the hard work to make it readable. Click on the image for a larger version.