Well, that title got out of hand. There's a very interesting article in Oregon Live about a new mapping and computer simulation study being done alone the Oregon coast to look at the potential impacts of tsunamis. This is exactly the kind of stuff that geopeople need to be touting as evidence of our impact on society. A line that caught my attention was this: "The new maps are based on updated computer models that take into account the lessons geologists learned from the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004." In other words, the horrific events of Dec. 26, 2004, are already well-enough studied and disseminated that understandings created in the aftermath may be turned around and save lives half a world away, less than four years later. The article also links a PDF (600 Kb) pamphlet with the resultant map, evacuation routes, and (supposedly) safe areas.
I guess I'm not so keen on putting a building up on stilts to keep it safer in the event... false confidence and all.
Many coastal Oregon communities are on uplifted marine terraces, well out of direct danger from tsunamis. Whether landslides and solifluction are an issue for many of these (in the event of a Cascadia earthquake), I don't know. But a number of communties, such as Cannon Beach and Seaside, are just a few feet up on sand bar and dune substrate. In addition, many communities are based around estuaries- harbors and fisheries are among the major sources of income along the coast, along with forest products and tourism. So for example, Newport, the town on the coast directly west of me, is mostly at an elevation of between 100 and 150 feet, but the bay and surrounding lowlands, while small in area, are pretty heavily built up. So having a good sense of the maximum flood extent of a tsunami could save many lives, even in communities that are mostly out of harm's way.
Incidentally, the project and pamphlet cover Cannon Beach; Seaside (Tseaside is, I guess, the Japanese spelling) is the next community north.
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Is This Your Hat?
10 years ago
4 comments:
Tseaside would not be the Japanese spelling. Seaside in Japanese would be Shiisaide, pronounced She-sigh-de.
Comment spam is really annoying. So is all the flamers that tend to stop by now and then. It's amazing what people will say on the internet that you know they wouldn't say in a face-to-face conversation, so that has been a learning experience for me: never flame anybody or it will come back to haunt you.
The tsunami evacuation routes posted at the coast always give me a dark chuckle. Effectively they all say the same thing- go UP.
Chris- Tsunami (pronounced with a silent 'T' by Americans) is a Japanese term. The jokey title, alliterated s's with silent t's, must be (to the typical ugly American) the Japanese spelling of those words. Joke.
Dean- Tillamook tests (or at least used to) their tsunmai warning system with a recording of cows mooing (you know, cheese, cows...). I've seen video of it, and had to explain it to people who had been confused by it. Don't know what they plan to use in case of a real warning- maybe some actress shrieking at the top of her lungs. But yeah, there is a certain dark humor in those signs.
I was wondering if you were joking.
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