Anyone living in Southern California should be aware that there may be an impending tsunami hazard, as a newly-identified fault zone off the coast of Southern California has recently been identified (although this will be nothing like the big-budget disaster movie San Andreas). The study’s leading author, geologist Mark Legg, illustrates that a real-life offshore tsunami and earthquake would not duplicate a Hollywood script version of a complete aquatic-takeover of Los Angeles or San Diego, however, still insists that the possible hazard warrants more attention than it is receiving.
Exactly what kind of tsunami could this be?
Lucy Jones, science adviser for risk reduction in the U.S. Geological Survey’s Natural Hazards Mission Area, says there has been documented evidence that tsunami waves have been hitting Southern California dating back to 1812. It’s commonplace that when someone utters the word “tsunami,” people’s first mental image is the 2004 quake and tsunami that tore Sumatra apart, or the giant waves that rocked Japan 4 years ago in 2011. Those particular tsunami waves were created in subduction zones.
“It’s not that it’s not a risk,” Jones said. “It’s just not as big a risk as the ones we see from the big subduction zones.” The zone that rests nearest to Southern California is the Cascadia subduction zone, just off of the coast of Northern California, Oregon and Washington state. Nearly 300 years ago in 1700, a Cascadia quake birthed a tsunami so large that it laid serious damage to Japan’s Pacific coast.
Legg was in agreement that a Borderland tsunami may not reach the levels of a Cascadia tsunami or the Sumatra tsunami. “It doesn’t have to be a Sumatra-sized tsunami,” he told NBC News. “It could be a 1- or 2-meter surge. That could have a huge impact on the ports.”
Prepare, don’t panic
Other earthquake experts are stating that the hazard has been examined, however they acknowledge that the offshore faults do require further study.
“Worrying doesn’t do anyone any good,” he said. “Preparedness is the key.” For example, if you are spending the day on the beach and can witness the ocean receding dramatically in the distance, simply take off to higher ground — because a big tsunami wave will probably follow.
The other important factor is that undersea faults are in need of further scientific study and research. Legg mentioned that the federal government once had provided funding for seafloor depth mapping, which is also known as bathymetry, for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal waters — however before a Pacific coastal survey was completed, the plug was pulled on the funding.
