Tsunami in Pacific

June 14, 2005 9:04 PM

Tsunami warning - 7.4 earthquake in the pacific
posted by gunthersghost (49 comments total)

wow, sweet post.
posted by H. Roark at 9:07 PM on June 14, 2005

Michael Jackson is innocent
posted by AMWKE at 9:08 PM on June 14, 2005

your link doesn't work.

earthquake info

tsunami bulletin
posted by quonsar at 9:09 PM on June 14, 2005

The link worked, they just took the page down... sorry
posted by gunthersghost at 9:10 PM on June 14, 2005

So, about an hour before we know if we're screwed or not, give or take.
posted by catachresoid at 9:12 PM on June 14, 2005

worldnet daily
posted by quonsar at 9:13 PM on June 14, 2005

so, are they warning people?
posted by amberglow at 9:13 PM on June 14, 2005

posted by stbalbach at 9:14 PM on June 14, 2005

oh---NO TSUNAMI DANGER EXISTS FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA -
WASHINGTON - OREGON OR CALIFORNIA. HOWEVER SOME AREAS MAY
EXPERIENCE SMALL SEA LEVEL CHANGES. AS LOCAL CONDITIONS
CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE ALL
CLEAR DETERMINATIONS MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.


...THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH STATUS IS CANCELED FOR
CALIFORNIA - OREGON - WASHINGTON - BRITISH COLUMBIA - AND
ALASKA...
posted by amberglow at 9:14 PM on June 14, 2005

Will this really cause a Tsunami?

The earthquake that caused the asian tsunami was 9.1.

According to Wikipedia, a 7.1 earthquake 24 miles off of Papua New Guinea wasn't large enough to cause a tsunami.
posted by toftflin at 9:14 PM on June 14, 2005

it matters more what kind of earthquake it is more than how strong...in terms of tsunamis anyway...
posted by schyler523 at 9:17 PM on June 14, 2005

I heard they were evacuating Crescent City. Guess that's off, now? (Sorry... my only available media at the moment is MeFi.)
posted by trip and a half at 9:18 PM on June 14, 2005

HOWEVER SOME AREAS MAY
EXPERIENCE SMALL SEA LEVEL CHANGES. AS LOCAL CONDITIONS
CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE ALL
CLEAR DETERMINATIONS MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

What is a 'small seal level change'. A couple inches, feet?
posted by scheptech at 9:20 PM on June 14, 2005

It's so annoying how the local news (Portland) is playing this up. Had the Indian Ocean tsunami never happened, they probably wouldn't have said much at all about this earthquake, but now they have to make us feel like we might be in danger, too.

Another reason why I prefer blogs to news. At least here, I get some humor.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 9:20 PM on June 14, 2005

Isn't it telling that just hours before the tsunami, President Bush discussed Social Security with Future Farmers of America?!! Tsunami or conspiracy?
posted by LarryC at 9:21 PM on June 14, 2005

Canceled? That's just swell.
posted by catachresoid at 9:22 PM on June 14, 2005

The coast, it seems, is clear.
posted by ColdChef at 9:22 PM on June 14, 2005

From their front page:

Abortionist accusedof eating fetuses
Kansas City clinic closedas grisly house of horrors

Why is U.S. starving disabled to death?
Shocking report shows Terri Schiavo only tip of iceberg

Teen throws up on teacher
Boy charged, dad says it was stress of final exams

Ultimate video Bible at lowest price yet
For limited time get $110 off acclaimed 'WatchWORD' DVD set

Simulated sex, threatening 'mob' at 'gay pride' event
Philadelphia Christians in another confrontation with homosexual 'militants'

(theres one for you apostrophe watchdogs)

Real history, without all the revision!
Price cut on new English translation of classic 'Annals of the World'


So let's take this with a grain, or more, of salty goodness.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:23 PM on June 14, 2005

Tsunami warning cancelled circa 9:20p PDT.

Phew!

Q, that "message.txt" link is the shiznit. It showed the warning at 9:10, and refreshed to cancel by 9:20.
posted by mwhybark at 9:24 PM on June 14, 2005

Damn, I was looking forward to seeing some houseboats around here get really nautical . . .
posted by mk1gti at 9:25 PM on June 14, 2005

Considering I'm still alive and well, there probably wasn't much of a tsunami.
posted by anarcation at 9:29 PM on June 14, 2005

apropos of what blackleotardfront said, thank goodness there's a reliable news source like world net daily out there on the intarweb, with stories and editorials by reasonable folk. and now a word from our publisher.
posted by Hat Maui at 9:30 PM on June 14, 2005

USGS says 7.0, World Net bumps it up to 7.4.

I presume they're working on the "divine retribution for Jackson acquittal" angle right now.
posted by words1 at 9:31 PM on June 14, 2005

tsunamis could lurking anywhere at anytime!
posted by Satapher at 9:42 PM on June 14, 2005

Looking out the window at the lake down below that feeds into the Puget Sound through the Ballard Locks everything looks fine from here. . . Hey, why are my feet wet all of a sudden? *gulp*
posted by mk1gti at 9:43 PM on June 14, 2005

Hey, there's another state out here kind of close to the Pacific, y'know... Hello? Hello?

Where is everyone going?

Er, never mind.
posted by pzarquon at 9:46 PM on June 14, 2005

Hey, why are my feet wet all of a sudden? *gulp*

You missed the potty again, eh?
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 9:50 PM on June 14, 2005

If you live by the coast, you might want to subscribe to this mailing list which can let you know if tsunamis are coming.
posted by mosch at 9:51 PM on June 14, 2005

What Pacific Coast writers can the world do without?
posted by davy at 9:54 PM on June 14, 2005

You missed the potty again, eh?
---------------------------------------------
I was wondering why the ocean was so warm . . .
posted by mk1gti at 10:00 PM on June 14, 2005

BOOK HIM DANNO!
posted by Mr Bluesky at 10:05 PM on June 14, 2005

"Abortionist accused of eating fetuses"

I'm sorry to repeat it, but it really was the best thing about this thread.
posted by 2sheets at 10:13 PM on June 14, 2005

Well. I live about 300 feet from the ocean, and just got this notification. Fat lot of good it did me!

OTOH, I was having a bit of playtime with my wife, so it would have been a good way to go.
posted by Kickstart70 at 10:14 PM on June 14, 2005

Don't blame the news for playing this up. Tsunami warnings sounded all up and down the coast -- that's not the sort of thing to ignore. And while the first "there is no warning" message came out within minutes of the warning itself, that message had come from a tsunami center which isn't responsible for the Pacific coast of the U.S. It wasn't until a fair amount of time later that the proper agency issued the cancellation.
posted by theonetruebix at 11:03 PM on June 14, 2005

Can you have a Tsunami if you live near a lake, a really big lake, one that would be described as good, ney, great by some?

And that Tsunami warning sign sort of makes Tsunami's look fun.
posted by drezdn at 11:12 PM on June 14, 2005

The party was over before it started.
posted by TwelveTwo at 11:24 PM on June 14, 2005

toftflin : It's not the size of the earthquake that matters. Generally speaking, it's how much undersea land that has moved that causes tsunamis. Even a small quake could trigger a very large movement of undersea land in the right conditions. But it's only logical that larger quakes have a greater chance of moving more land.


Is it just the Chicken Little in me or is the Pacific Rim in general heating up a bit?

Maybe I moved out of California just in time.

In all seriousness, for those of you in Earthquake Country, now would be as good a time as any to get your earthquake preparedness kits together. It's been hammered into you for years - don't ignore it. If you have any questions about emergency preparedness in earthquake country or need a shopping list or something, feel free to email me.

The Pacific coast is years and years overdue for a huge one - 8.0 or greater - and I have never seen so much larger-scale seismic activity on the Pacific Rim/"Ring of Fire" in so short of a time period in my life. (Yeah, my lifespan is a blip in geologic timescales, but still.)

And it's false alarms like this one that tsunami warning centers desperately try to avoid. Because then people don't take them seriously when they could be a real threat.

I realize that (hopefully) all of you that are joking are just horsing around - and that most of you probably don't even live in earthquake country, or even near the ocean, but as someone who grew up with earthquakes, and near the coast, it raises my hackles more than a bit.

As someone who (until recently) lived in said coastal earthquake country, I would seriously appreciate a timely warning post like this one. And I know a lot of other people would as well - there's a lot of MeFites in this area. I don't watch the news, listen to the radio, or check news sites as often as I check MeFi.

So the Richter measurement was off +0.4 points. That's not uncommon - CalTech and the USGS are frequently off by that much or more in the first measurements, which is probably what was being quoted anyway.
posted by loquacious at 12:10 AM on June 15, 2005

What is with Metafilter's hate on chickenlittle? I thought that was what kept us swamp apes alive in the early days.
"OMG A MONSTER IN THE TREES!"
*run to hide in the bushes*
"EEEK THERE ARE BUGS ON THEM"
*run to hide in the swamp again*
"AHH DEAD SPIDER IN THERE"
*run to hide near trees*
"OMG NOW THERE ARE BUGS ON THE TREES TOO!!"
posted by TwelveTwo at 12:22 AM on June 15, 2005

Hey loquacious, I'd love a grocery list if you've got one handy. I have a good idea of what constitutes a general disaster kit, but I still feel pretty new here and the more useful info I have, the less fodder there'll be in my brain to fuel the irrational part of my overwhelming fear of earthquakes.
posted by Frisbee Girl at 1:20 AM on June 15, 2005

Ttsunami, questions and answers:

1 A tsunami is a series of deep water ocean waves that can occur after significant seismological activity in or near the ocean, such as: earthquakes; volcanic activity; impacts from comets, meteorites, and Russian satellites; landslides; fjord avalanches ("fjord-spløshen"), self-destructing undersea supervillain lairs; and unusually large whale orgies.

posted by Davenhill at 2:31 AM on June 15, 2005

What is a 'small seal level change'. A couple inches, feet?

Seals have flippers, don't they?
posted by vbfg at 2:56 AM on June 15, 2005

Can you have a Tsunami if you live near a lake, a really big lake, one that would be described as good, ney, great by some?

Maybe. But as it's not an ocean, it might not deserve the name. If a sufficiently large lump of mountain fell into a lake, you'd get a tsunami-style wave with all the attendant doom and destruction, so it depends whether your lake has a suitable (preferably volcanic and/or earthquake-prone) mountain on its shores. See the BBC drama thing 'Supervolcano' for more details and lots of computer graphics.
posted by Lebannen at 3:12 AM on June 15, 2005

Canceled? That's just swell.

I'm still laughing. Well done.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 4:16 AM on June 15, 2005

drezdn,

yes. you can certainly have tsunami in a lake. In any body of water in general where waves are created. even in a bucket of water (with a moveable bottom). course it is not going to be as catastrophic as a tsunami in the ocean. What makes them catastrophic is that they travel in deep water very large distances unobstructed so that large volumes of water are engaged. More here.
posted by carmina at 6:51 AM on June 15, 2005

In my situation there are locks to keep the ocean out and with a Tsunami, those locks would be breached, causing the levels of two lakes (Lake Union and Lake Washington, as well as possibly Lake Sammamish several miles upstream) to rise who knows how much. Of course this would all depend on how close one was to the actual ocean (or Puget Sound in my case). Interesting to ponder, terrifying to experience. . .
I'll be thinking about the possibilities all day now.
posted by mk1gti at 7:37 AM on June 15, 2005

loquacious : "As someone who (until recently) lived in said coastal earthquake country, I would seriously appreciate a timely warning post like this one."

I know I appreciated it. I heard about the warning via other means, but my first response was to go looking for the thread here. Metafilter is really good about linking primary sources. And good at calming the nerves. Thanks, everyone!
posted by catachresoid at 9:50 AM on June 15, 2005

Worldnet Daily has been entertaining me for the past 20 minutes with tales of abortion doctors eating fetuses and porn stars visiting the White House. Thanks, gunthersghost!


I would have to completely agree!!! My personal favorite in the commentary section, is the video (that you have to buy unfortunately, but the description was enough for me) which details the Mexicans plan to invade the South West US and reclaim it for the Aztecs!!! BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!
posted by Debaser626 at 2:01 PM on June 15, 2005

mk1gti writes "In my situation there are locks to keep the ocean out and with a Tsunami, those locks would be breached, causing the levels of two lakes (Lake Union and Lake Washington, as well as possibly Lake Sammamish several miles upstream) to rise who knows how much. Of course this would all depend on how close one was to the actual ocean (or Puget Sound in my case). Interesting to ponder, terrifying to experience. . .
"I'll be thinking about the possibilities all day now."

mk1tgi, there have been tsunamis in Lake Washington. Apparently one wave (300 or 500 years ago?) surged over Kenmore at the north end of the lake, up to a height of 100 feet or so.

But the quake and/or landslide has to be local for that to happen ...
posted by Araucaria at 2:42 PM on June 15, 2005

Apology to MetaFiltrites and M: We in the U.S. just learned the word tsunami. Like always, it will take a few years for us to get over it. Hopefully it wont be an issue, and no one will freak out in the Great Lakes area, when next there's an earth quake in west central Minnesota.
posted by taursir at 6:02 AM on June 17, 2005