r/Eugene • u/Alarmed_Context8562 • Dec 05 '24
tsunami warning jiggly
Anyone else just get this alert on their phone?
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u/DevilsChurn Dec 05 '24
The sub won't let me share a screenshot, so I'll copy the text from the email I just got from the Unesco tsunami warning centre [emphases mine]:
PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
---------------------------------
* MAGNITUDE 7.0
* ORIGIN TIME 1844 UTC DEC 5 2024
* COORDINATES 40.3 NORTH 124.7 WEST
* DEPTH 13 KM / 8 MILES
* LOCATION NEAR THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
EVALUATION
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* NOTE REVISED MAGNITUDE
* AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 7.0 OCCURRED
NEAR THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AT 1844 UTC ON
THURSDAY DECEMBER 5 2024.
* BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA... THE TSUNAMI THREAT FROM THIS
EARTHQUAKE HAS NOW PASSED.
TSUNAMI THREAT FORECAST...UPDATED
---------------------------------
* THERE IS NO LONGER A TSUNAMI THREAT FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE.
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
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* REMAIN OBSERVANT AND EXERCISE NORMAL CAUTION NEAR THE SEA.
OTHERWISE... NO ACTION IS REQUIRED..
If you're really worried about ongoing tsunami threats, you can sign up for these alerts at tsunami.gov. I signed up for them when I moved out to Florence seven years ago, and get them any time there's a major earthquake in the Pacific that is at risk of generating a tsunami. You'd be surprised how often that happens.
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u/shewholaughslasts Dec 05 '24
Thx for the link! Signing up now.
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u/DevilsChurn Dec 05 '24
Once you see how many of these you get, you'll quickly realise how common they are: the first thing I check when I get them is the location, as a lot of time they turn out to be in the Eastern or Southern Pacific. When the alert came on MyShake this morning showing that the epicentre was in Humboldt County, it was clear to me that we were in no danger here.
Before you accuse me of being lackadaisical: I've been through major earthquakes in Seattle and San Francisco, as well plenty of minor ones (including one in Eugene back in the 90s). I've learned that, unless you're within about 150 miles of the epicentre, you probably won't be dealing with much - if anything - in the way of damage (aside from the big one in '89, the biggest headache for me in CA was when a small shaker would cause cracks in the concrete caulking around the perimeter of my foundation that allowed ants to get into the house).
I'm pretty sanguine about any personal tsunami risk here in Florence as my house is 60' above sea level. If a tsunami got large enough to cause me trouble, then we're all truly f***ed out here.
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u/notime4morons Dec 05 '24
Be sanguine all you like, and you personally may be safe from a tsunami, but you and everyone else on the coast will still be very fucked from the aftermath of the Big One for a very long time.
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u/DevilsChurn Dec 05 '24
I'm sorry - is English your second language? That's very much what I said.
Plus, I've been in a "Big One" already - and I know from experience what can happen.
Moreover, I'm a whole lot more worried about the very real eventuality that in the next few years we may be facing an epidemic that's going to make COVID look like a joke (just as the cretins poised to take over the government eviscerate public health agencies), than the remote possibility of a large earthquake in the vicinity in the next century (and if you look at the statistics, the chances are pretty small).
A tsunami of a meter or so out here would cause significant localised damage (mostly to coastal properties and along the rivers), but for the most part it won't be knocking out utilities or major roads like a large earthquake might. The probability of either of those events isn't zero (and is certainly enough to justify general preparedness), but it is smaller than what a lot of the doom-mongers seem to think.
I was gratified to see that the warning system seemed to work well here - but I'm not going bonkers the way a lot of people on this sub (and elsewhere, I'm sure) are.
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u/PhoenixRising-Eagle Dec 08 '24
I lived through the 3.8 quake (Northridge epicenter) in the LA area.
The 12/2024 quake in N. California in a lightly populated area was reported to be a 7.0. That's huge. The biggest possible quakes are 8.0 and god help people who are in range of an 8.0. Southern California is riddled with earthquake faults, not just the San Andreas. There are quake faults in areas most people are unaware of such as one in Southern Illinois. Better safe than sorry is my motto. People have not been prepared for tsunamis in Asia, many have died.
You're right about pandemic threats. I think we're all keeping an eye on that. Yes, a bunch of morons will take over the federal government in late January. God help us.
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u/DevilsChurn Dec 08 '24 edited Dec 08 '24
Having ridden Loma Prieta, which was around 7.0, I can agree that it's huge. Interestingly enough, even though the epicentre was in Santa Cruz (where most of the damage was done) evidently - according to seismologists at the time - the seismic waves bounced off of deeper layers in the earth's crust and resurfaced 70 miles to the North in San Francisco, where I was living.
That accounts for the fact that we had the Bay Bridge and local freeways collapse and power knocked out for several days in places, whereas on the Peninsula there was minimal damage and little to no power interruption (in fact, once the phones started working, I was getting updates on what was going on in the City from friends on the Peninsula who could watch the news coverage on TV while I sat in the dark).
Even so, our distance from the epicentre of this recent quake pretty much left us in the clear. Even closer earthquakes haven't really been an issue here in Florence. Since I moved out here seven years ago there has been significant earthquake activity off the coast near Coos Bay. I haven't felt a single one of them - and with our sandy soil here I can feel the vibrations in the ground when my neighbour's heat pump turns on.
I agree about being prepared but, to be honest, having grown up in Eugene in the 70s, moved back for several years in the 90s for family reasons, then resettled here eight years ago, I've known things to be relatively quiet compared to Seattle and Northern CA - and having friends and family in all these places I get regular updates whenever there is an earthquake, however small.
As I said in another comment, I've felt one single earthquake in Lane County (a single shake back in the early 90s when I was visiting my parents in Eugene) and have neither experienced any others - nor heard reports of any when I wasn't living here - since I was growing up in the 70s.
If even a moderate earthquake hit my neighbourhood, with our loose soil composition we'll be dealing with amplification of waves through the same kind of liquefaction that caused so much devastation in the Marina District of SF during Loma Prieta. Even so, most of the damage here will likely be from falling trees. In Eugene, it will likely be older, unreinforced masonry structures (of which there are few in the area) that will be most vulnerable (I remember the footage of collapsed buildings in the Northridge quake that uncovered similarly unstable structures in that area).
But you know what? We're equally likely to have falling trees during Winter storms with winds gusting past 50mph - and those are a regular occurrence out here. Accordingly, when my homeowner's premium literally doubled over a two-year period recently, I actually dropped my earthquake coverage - for the first time in the 20 years that I've been a homeowner - to save money. I'm more concerned about what's likely to happen than about the remote possibility that a FEMA-worthy emergency occurs here any time in the decades to come. Most of the preparations I make for the former will likely suffice for the latter as well.
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u/bigdickwilliedone Dec 05 '24
Oarfish never lie.
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u/Strict-Ad-7099 Dec 05 '24
Were there a lot of sightings nearby lately? I do recall reading a few things about them but don’t recall if it was here.
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u/abuttonclicker Dec 05 '24
6.0 magnitude earthquake reported near Eureka, CA. I use Earthquake app on iOS and was notified about 10 minutes ago.
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u/Mendo-D Dec 07 '24
I just got a loud Amber alert that told me to hold on. I was outside in Klamath County. There was nothing.
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u/Hockshank Dec 05 '24
Yes. I think we were at the very edge of the warning zone. Tsunami warning all the way up the coast to Lane County though. I would probably pay more attention if I was on the Southern Oregon coast right now.
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u/DevilsChurn Dec 05 '24
According to the tsunami warning email I got a few minutes after the phone alert, the tsunami zone encompasses approximately 300k from the epicentre.
I'm in Florence, and have lived through two major earthquakes. I'm not worried.
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u/hezzza Dec 05 '24 edited Dec 05 '24
No tsunami warning. We use the MyShake app developed at UC Berkeley and got notices of the earthquakes. I'm signed up with Lane County but nothing from them.
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u/Hunter_Powers Dec 05 '24
No, I didn’t even think we would get a warning like that 😓
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u/tiny_galaxies Dec 05 '24
For our purposes it would mostly be a warning to stay away from ocean beaches. Tsunamis can take a while (minutes to hours) to travel from the epicenter.
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u/diabolikyeti Dec 05 '24
Wait until Cascadia goes and you see the ocean washing away parts of Interstate 5 in Eugene.
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u/Legnovore Dec 05 '24
Yes and no. Got a Google earthquake alert for the NorCal coast, then Red Cross 'Emergency' app reports tsunami warning for British Columbia.
Jumped on my ham radio, the Florenece repeater, and they report Bandon is clearing their beaches and going inland. It seems to be real.
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u/tomborington Dec 05 '24
My son lives near Eureka and certainly felt the earthquake. He was pretty rattled.
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u/PatBuchanansDog Dec 08 '24
I was within 60 miles of eureke and def felt it. Was scary. Immediately came home when i got the alert lol
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u/Cabezamelone Dec 06 '24
My Shake advises users to open the app every few weeks. I didn’t do this and I received no warning notice.
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u/itsScarlettyall Dec 05 '24
I got a 6.6 mag earthquake alert from off the coast of norther California. The outer edge of the warning zone is right outside of Eugene.