Sunday, January 10, 2010

California shaking

There was a 6.5 magnitude earthquake about 3.5 hours ago offshore of Eureka, California, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says there is no threat of tidal waves.

KTVU.com has some pretty good coverage, including photos. The station reports power outages and property damage but no casualties.

I'm more interested than usual because I grew up just over the border in Southern Oregon. The 1964 Crescent City tsunami was big news in the area, though the reference is misleading in this context.

I've read that 'tsunami' is Japanese for 'harbor wave', and that's basically what hit Crescent City. It sits at the end of a north-facing bay that funneled wave energy from the Great Alaskan Earthquake. Damage from that quake led to the creation of the West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning System.

5 comments:

bigsoxfan said...

Totally off topic, but where you involved in the Florence OR exploding whale episode? One of my favorite Utube clips, if you haven't checked it out, do so. I'm hoping to visit for this years, Florence Exploding Whale Festival.

KAP said...

I missed it at the time. Fresh out of high school with no TV. Does being in the same county count? I was living outside of Springfield, near Eugene and on the other side of the Coast Range.

Stench enough from the paper mill just down the McKenzie River

bigsoxfan said...

From the video clip I saw, the stench was overwelmed by the spectacle of large chunks of exploded rotting whale falling into nearby parking lots. We learned a lot about explosion safety zones, from that one.

KAP said...

I swear you can hear blubber plopping. My first reaction was 'oh no' when I saw cases of dynamite.

Bad pun alert: a local paper is calling it a quake-up call because there hasn't been a big one in 15 yrs or so.

bigsoxfan said...

I quess there is one difference between us. Between the haircut, sports coat, and dynamite, I was saying; "oh hell yeah, this will be good". I spent a few years searching for mention of the "florence exploding whale" and this only turned up recently. Made my day, although I did feel bad for the classic buick that took such a bad pounding.