480,000 Californians live in risk zone for huge tsunami, which could cause $40 billion in damage
About 480,000 Californians live in areas at risk of a 5-foot or greater rise in sea level, according to Lesley Ewing, a senior coastal engineer with the California Coastal Commission.
California faces significantly less risk than Japan for the kind of catastrophic tsunami that swallowed whole towns, killed thousands and reached five miles inland. But officials estimate a Southern California tsunami could cost billions of dollars, inundate areas such as Marina del Rey, Naples and Seal Beach, and affect operations at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
USC researchers estimated in 2005 that the economic losses from a major tsunami in Southern California could reach $40 billion, depending on the extent of disruption to freeways and ports.
Other estimates suggest that a shutdown of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would cost about $1 billion a day.
The ports reported no damage from the recent tsunami in Japan, and officials said the area's geology means they are generally at minimal risk.
Read the full story here: Tsunami's effects in California offer clues about future, more powerful seismic events
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-- Abby Sewell
Photo: A boat struggles through an oncoming surge of water in Crescent City, Calif., on March 11. The Japan tsunami roared into the city's boat basin, ripping up docks, sinking 11 boats and damaging 47, causing millions of dollars in damage. Credit: Bryant Anderson / Associated Press
Map: Inundation zone at Los Angeles Harbor. Credit: State of California
EDITOR'S PICKS:
The better story would be to find some similarities on "the ring of fire" to predictably get at where the next big quake is going to come from. Everybody understands that if their on the coast when an earthquake happens, survival means getting to higher ground, if the eatchquake epiccenter is centered offshore.
Posted by: realitydave | March 21, 2011 at 12:34 PM
NASA's most recent report about a week ago indicated a foot rise in sea level by 2050.
Posted by: Jack | March 21, 2011 at 01:10 PM
Realitydave, don't you think geologists and seismologists have been looking for just what you are suggesting? I doubt any time in the future EQ prediction will be possible. I also want to remind you that considering the San Andreas fault AND the sea floor topography off of our coast, we don't have THAT much to fear in the way of a tsunami, if some mega quake happens on the San Andreas... Besides considering the type of plate boundary, I would suspect a tsunami will be the least of our worries.
Posted by: geohound | March 22, 2011 at 01:50 AM
Is it true a tsunami went all the way up to Whittier, CA a long time ago? I think the base of Whittier is 600 feet above sea level. Was it due to a landslide on the steep California continental shelf right offshore?
Posted by: OffTheBooks | March 28, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Since Marina Del Rey is determined to be a vulnerable land lot for Tsuanamis, Shouldnt the government consider an alternative Los Angeles area Airport? I questions whether MDR vulnerablities would somehow surpass LAX and PDR area.
Posted by: East Coast Transplant | March 30, 2011 at 11:36 AM
I would worry less about the tsunami and worry more about the looting that will obviously happen.
Posted by: James | March 30, 2011 at 02:40 PM