Saturday afternoon, residents of northern California were violently shaken by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake not far offshore in the Pacific Ocean. Much of the area is without power after electrical lines snapped in the quake, and in some places damage appears extensive.
Though they may not feel it today as they assess damage to their homes, businesses, even their bodies (there have been reported of injuries, though none life-threatening), people living in the city of Eureka and the surrounding towns dodged a bullet. There was no tsunami.
This part of California has been lashed by killer waves before, most recently in 1964 following a monster magnitude 9.2 quake in Alaska. Eleven people were killed in the disaster in Crescent City, a town about two hours' drive north of Eureka.
The area is replete with earthquake hazards -- Saturday's quake occurred along a perfect storm of seismic activity called the Mendocino Triple Junction, where three tectonic plate boundaries come together (two of these are the dangerous San Andreas and Cascadia faults).
Fortunately, Humboldt State University geologist Lori Dengler said in an article in today's Eureka Times-Standard that the quake occurred on the Gorda plate, and ”The earthquake did not generate a tsunami because the motion on the fault was horizontal and therefore did not cause any significant sea floor displacement."
Still, it's good that there were reports of people running. Whether literally sprinting out of shops after the shaking stopped, or getting in their cars and heading toward higher ground, these folks were smart. More than anything, fleeing is what's going to save lives when the really big, tsunami-generating quake hits. And it will.
WATCH VIDEO: A tsunami warning center in Seattle uses top technology to detect the waves.
Even now, the risk of a big tremor remains high. Scientists have no way of knowing if a temblor is imminent, but occasionally a quake like Saturday's is just a warning shot. As part of its aftershock warning for the region, the United States Geological Survey has announced a 5-10 percent chance that a bigger quake may occur in the next week.
And yet, amid all the scariness of a natural disaster, there are always the curmudgeons who say, "You think this is an earthquake??" Witness Theresa Chesmore, who in yesterday's Times-Standard report appeared ready to take on any approaching tsunami with her bare hands:
"This was nothing compared to Loma Prieta," said Chesmore.
Now that we have all the facts, we know she's right -- Loma Prieta was four times stronger. And maybe she was just hamming it up for the media. But there's no need to play 'tough guy' (or gal). If you live in a coastal town and feel a strong shake, it's time to get the hell out of there.
Image: Times-Standard via LA Times
Tags: Earthquakes, Geology, Geophysics, Natural Disasters, Tsunami
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