WAVE DEATHS UNLIKELY IN L.A. CONDITIONS WOULD ALLOW WARNING, EVACUATION.Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer Large tidal waves could threaten the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, coast after each major Pacific Ocean earthquake, but an early warning system and the nature of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area faults would most likely prevent the same devastation seen this week in south Asia This article is about the geopolitical region in Asia. For geophysical treatments, see Indian subcontinent. South Asia, also known as Southern Asia , geologists said. As recently as 1960, the Los Angeles shoreline was pounded by gigantic waves after a large earthquake in Chile, which set off a tsunami that killed 60 people in Hawaii and 130 people in Japan. But Los Angeles residents have hours of warning to reach high ground before tidal waves arrive from Japan or Hawaii, the main hotbeds for Pacific Ocean-based quakes, experts said. While structures would be destroyed, residents should have time to escape even if the quake originated in Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern or the Pacific Northwest, which would cause stronger tidal waves than quakes off the Southern California coast. ``I think that something the magnitude of what happened in the Indian Ocean Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It constitutes about 20% of the world's total ocean area. is very unlikely in Southern California. It is more likely in Northern California,'' said Michael Reichle, acting state geologist. ``The faults in Southern California, for the most part, can't produce earthquakes that are that large. They're just not as long.'' It would take a fault the length of California to produce a magnitude- 9.0 earthquake, the size of the one that hit off the coast of Indonesia on Sunday. Tsunamis are actually far more common in the Pacific Ocean, home of the fastest-moving plates on Earth. But an early-warning detection system, based in Alaska, tracks the possibility of tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean after every earthquake. The waves can travel hundreds of miles before hitting the coast of Southern California, as was the case during Chile's 1960 earthquake and Anchorage's 1964 quake. ``We had tidal waves like that,'' in Los Angeles from the 1964 quake, said geography professor Tony Orme of the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. . ``There were boats washed ashore.'' The 1960 quake in Chile caused $1 million in damage to the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor areas, said Brian Atwater Brian Franklin Atwater (b. September 18 1951) is a geologist who works for the United States Geological Survey and is also a research professor at the University of Washington. , a Seattle-based scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information. A geological survey . ``It was a big mess for the harbor,'' he said, adding that the giant waves also killed more than 60 people in Hawaii and 130 in Japan. An earthquake in 1700 - with a likely magnitude of 9.0 - generated waves that killed Indians in Seattle and destroyed homes in Japan. Until scientists linked earthquakes to tidal waves in the 1990s, they weren't even sure tsunamis could be generated off the West Coast. ``We didn't think we had the capability of having home-grown tsunamis; now we know,'' Atwater said. But probably still not in Los Angeles - unless the quakes caused landslides beneath the water. Southern California's San Andreas fault San Andreas fault, great fracture (see fault) of the earth's crust in California. It is the principal fault of an intricate network of faults extending more than 600 mi (965 km) from NW California to the Gulf of California. is a ``strike slip fault'' - meaning the plates move horizontally. The fault is also not offshore, eliminating the possibility of waves. The strongest quake that the San Andreas fault is thought to be able to generate is under 8.0, Reichle said. Subduction zones, where the plates move vertically, pose the most severe threat for tsunamis. The Cascadian fault, which stretches from Northern California to mid-Vancouver Island, is a subduction zone. In the case of any quake, California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. seismologist seis·mol·o·gy n. The geophysical science of earthquakes and the mechanical properties of the earth. seis Kate Hutton Kate Hutton, nicknamed the Earthquake Lady or Dr. Kate, is staff seismologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Hutton received a B.S. in astronomy from Pennsylvania State University in 1971, and an M.S. (1973) and Ph.D. said, residents need to leave the shoreline. There's not a set distance that's safe, but experts recommend going to high ground. ``You're advised if you feel a very large earthquake to get off the beach,'' she said. If the alert system predicts a Pacific tsunami, warnings will be broadcast on the emergency system within minutes. The wave travels at about the speed of a jet plane, which should leave adequate time for residents to travel inland, experts said. ``For an earthquake that happens in Chile, Japan or Alaska, it takes 12 hours for the wave to get to the West Coast,'' Reichle said. ``If the earthquake is here, the tsunami is going to arrive within a few minutes. There's really not enough time to generate a warning.'' ``Ninety-nine times out of 100, nothing's going to happen, but that one time, it could be serious,'' he said. ``It's probably not something that should cause a panic.'' Jennifer Radcliffe, (818) 713-3722 jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com |
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