Tsunami Tsteeplechase

Biggest Tsunami

Althea — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:52:46 +0000

On the night of July 9, 1958 an earthquake along the Fairweather Fault in the Alaska Panhandle loosened about 40 million cubic yards (30.6 million cubic meters) of rock high above the northeastern shore of Lituya Bay. This mass of rock plunged from an altitude of approximately 3000 feet (914 meters) down into the waters of Gilbert Inlet (see map below). The impact generated a local tsunami that crashed against the southwest shoreline of Gilbert Inlet. The wave hit with such power that it swept completely over the spur of land that separates Gilbert Inlet from the main body of Lituya Bay. The force of the wave removed all trees and vegetation from elevations as high as 1720 feet (524 meters) above sea level. This is the highest wave that has ever been known.

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Early Warning System For Earthquakes: Seismic ‘Stress Meter’ Warned Of Earthquake 10 Hours In Advance

Althea — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:31:37 +0000

ScienceDaily (July 10, 200 — Using remarkably sensitive new instruments, seismologists have detected minute geological changes that preceded small earthquakes along California’s famed San Andreas Fault by as much as 10 hours. If follow-up tests show that the preseismic signal is pervasive, researchers say the method could form the basis of a robust early warning system for impending quakes.

Contractor Ignorance Kills Earthquake Victims In Sesmic Zones, Says U. Of Colorado Professor

Althea — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:39:20 +0000

ScienceDaily (Dec. 28, 2004) — Hundreds of thousands of earthquake fatalities could be averted if building contractors and homeowners were alerted to elementary construction principles, especially in the world’s six deadliest earthquake countries led by Iran, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder seismologist.

Geologists Study China Earthquake For Glimpse Into Future

Althea — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:35:50 +0000

ScienceDaily (July 7, 200 — The May 12 earthquake that rocked Sichuan Province in China was the first there in recorded history and unexpected in its magnitude. Now a team of geoscientists is looking at the potential for future earthquakes due to earthquake-induced changes in stress.

Magnitude 6 quake startles southern Peru

Althea — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:01:15 +0000

AREQUIPA, Peru, July 8, 2008 (Reuters) — A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rattled southern Peru early on Tuesday, startling residents in the Andean country’s second-largest city, Arequipa, who ran out of their homes into the streets.

Tourists stay put as tsunami sirens sound

Althea — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:23:08 +0000

PATONG: Tourists in Patong opted to soak up the sun rather than run for their lives during yesterday’s tsunami drill. The exercise, held across the six Andaman provinces, included the sounding of all 79 tsunami warning towers operated by the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC).

PREPARING FOR THE BIG ONE

Althea — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:06:34 +0000

You couldn’t have asked for a nicer morning for a catastrophic tsunami.

Dawn arrived on a pleasant coastal mist at the inn where I was staying in Lincoln City’s inundation zone. That’s what scientists call the low-lying areas that will be wiped out when — not if — a major tsunami strikes the 26 small cities and 12 unincorporated communities that dot Oregon’s 360 miles of coastline.

Program seeks to reduce emergency risk

Althea — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:56:42 +0000

In the wake of one of the worst earthquakes in recent memory, China’s death toll since last month’s earthquake surpassed 68,000 last week.

On the other side of the globe and on a moderately sized college campus, the University’s emergency management program continues to work to raise awareness about earthquake preparation and mitigating risk.

OSU study shifts views of 2004 central coast earthquakes

Althea — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:38:36 +0000

They were rather gentle as earthquakes go, but the main shocks from a pair of earthquake clusters just off the central Oregon coast in 2004 could prove more significant than scientists initially realized.

Turning Schools From Death Traps Into Havens

Althea — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:47:48 +0000

The potential for a modest school to survive a powerful earthquake is perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in Balakot, Pakistan, one of hundreds of communities near the border with India shattered by a devastating tectonic jolt on Oct. 8, 2005.