A TSUNAMI alert has been issued for the US west coast after an earthquake in the Paci

[Papewaio]

A STRONG earthquake of 7.0 magnitude had occurred off the coast of northern California, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said today.

The earthquake, which the USGS defines as "major" at that magnitude, occurred at 7.50pm on the West coast (1250 AEST today) about 10km deep in the Pacific Ocean.
A tsunami warning has been issued for coastal areas from the California-Mexico border to the northern tip of Vancouver in Canada, USGS said.

[Papewaio]

Witnesses felt buildings shaking along the California coast but there were no immediate reports of damage.

A tsunami warning was briefly in effect from the California-Mexico border north to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, but was called off about an hour after the quake hit.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration runs the warning system, which includes 25 other countries with Pacific coastlines.

Crescent City was the site of the only known tsunami to cause deaths in the continental United States. Eleven people died and 29 city blocks were washed away when a tsunami spawned by a quake hit Crescent City in 1964.

[KukriKhan]

We're OK here.

That 7.0 offshore shaker was mostly crust moving laterally (imagine using your flattened hands over, then under, then over again, each other) versus the Boxing Day quake/tsunami (imagine the up-down turbulance of a swim kick).

Detector bouys several miles out from the coast generated both the warning, and the "all clear".

We need to help other PacRim folks have the same system. Soon. IMO.

[BDC]

Assuming The Big One goes off, will you even have time to react to a warning though?

Anyway hopefully that island in the Atlantic won't collapse yet. Otherwise it will be tsunamis all around the Atlantic with no warning.

[Al Khalifah]

We need to help other PacRim folks have the same system. Soon. IMO.

Absolutely.
However, these systems can clearly generate false alarms as has been illustrated today. Had they instigated the neccessary evacuation procedure on the receipt of this alarm, it would've cost millions of dollars and probably lost an entire business day, a pretty expensive blow to an economy. An excess of drills and false alarms can also reduce readiness in the event of a real disaster as well because of complacency.

Didn't want to have to make that point but someone had to.

[KukriKhan]

Absolutely.
However, these systems can clearly generate false alarms as has been illustrated today. Had they instigated the neccessary evacuation procedure on the receipt of this alarm, it would've cost millions of dollars and probably lost an entire business day, a pretty expensive blow to an economy......

Point taken. False alarms can be costly. This is the first one since the current (evolving) sytem was put in place 2 years ago. These guys: http://oceanusmag.whoi.edu/v44n1/tech.html
are working on 'wiring' the entire Pac Rim, for more accurate, and more far-reaching, data to predict tsunamis.

[Al Khalifah]

I guess the important question is, even if an alarm were given at the earliest possible sign using current technology, how much time would there be until the disaster started?
Furthermore, could a third world nation with limitted transport and infrastructure perform an effective evacuation of the endangered areas in time to prevent heavy loss of life?

[Papewaio]

The Asia Tsunami quake hit on the 26th of Dec at 0059GMT.

Scientist issue an earthquake bulletin at 0114 GMT

Sumatra was hit at 0130GMT

Southern Thailand at 0230GMT

Sri Lanka and India at 0300GMT

Maldives hit by floods at 0430GMT

East Africa had small waves at 0700GMT.

Even as the Tsunami withdrew water from the beach some people made it from the beachside far enough inland that they survived.

Given a 5 minute headstart on foot it would have saved a huge amount of people.

[Productivity]

Assuming The Big One goes off, will you even have time to react to a warning though?

Yes, tsunamis really don't travel that fast, and the Pacific is pretty big. If by pure bad luck it happens close to the coast, you're in trouble, but tehre is a lot more of the Pacific that is far from the coast than there is that is close.