[meteorite-list] Hawaii Long Overdue For Tsunami

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:29 2004
Message-ID: <200310152010.NAA27224_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

I've visited the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo when I went
to Hawaii earlier this year.

Ron Baalke

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http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/daily/2003/Oct-15-Wed-2003/news/news2.html

Expert: Isle long overdue for tsunami

By MAILE CANNON
West Hawaii Today
October 15, 2003

Tsunamis are serious.

More people in Hawaii have been killed by the violent
ocean phenomenon than in earthquakes, volcanoes and
hurricanes combined and the tropical state is long
overdue for one, tsunami expert Walter Dudley said.

"It's not a question of if, but when," said the
professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaii,
addressing 30 people at a ReefTalk presentation Tuesday
at the Kealakehe High School library.

Tsunamis are impossible to prevent and difficult to
predict, but people can be prepared.

Technology has made considerable advances in monitoring
ocean activity, especially in the last decade, Dudley
said, but false alarms and the lapse in time since the
last major tsunami have created a public indifference.

Knowing what to do in the event of a tsunami will save
lives. Families, for example, should create tsunami
plans, much like fire escape plans.

People should not head toward the ocean in the event of
a tsunami, Dudley said, nor should they play spectator
to the awesome, vicious sight.

Four activities produce tsunamis: underwater volcanic
activity; underwater landslides; shifting of plate
tectonics; meteorite or comet hits.

Tsunamis result from the massive displacement of water
in each scenario. Series of waves go out from the center
of seismic activity and continue until the energy is
absorbed by land.

The waves travel at a consistent frequency until the
first set reaches land and then, subsequent waves
increase in amplitude hit more often, as a result.
Dudley likens the effect to moving traffic when one car
suddenly stops and the cars behind hit harder and
quicker.

Water pressure monitors at the bottom on the ocean relay
signals monitored by a network of 400 tsunami research
centers worldwide, Dudley said.

Seismic activity in Japan, Alaska or South America may
be reported several hours in advance of any threat to
Hawaii, but tsunamis generated in Hawaii pose unexpected
threats.

Dudley offers a word of advice for that scenario. "If
you feel an earthquake big enough not be able stand, go
to higher ground," he said.

Tsunamis have affected human activity in coastal areas
throughout history and cultures have changed and even
been destroyed by the phenomenon.

Santorini, a Greek island, was once a volcano whose
collapse resulted in a massive tsunami in the
Mediterranean Sea that wiped out the Minoan
civilization.

A tsunami resulting from a submarine landslide in Lituya
Bay in Alaska destroyed forests a thousand feet above
the sea. The sand sucked up in the water stripped the
bark from the trees.

The last tsunami to affect the Big Island was in 1960.
The one before, in 1946, swept away downtown Hilo and
killed 24 in Laupahoehoe.

Those events are featured at the Pacific Tsunami Museum
in Hilo. The museum, at 130 Kamehameha Avenue, is open 9
a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For further
information, call 935 - 0926.

mcannon_at_westhawaiitoday.com
Received on Wed 15 Oct 2003 04:10:46 PM PDT