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CALIFORNIA — This month, one of the largest earthquakes to hit California in years triggered a tsunami threat for a wide swath of the San Francisco Bay Area, yet the state Department of Conservation’s website for tsunami maps went down leaving some coastal residents searching to find out whether they were in an evacuation zone.
The incident served as a reminder for Californians who live on or near the coast to determine whether they or their loved ones are in a tsunami hazard zone before the next big one hits the Golden State.
The magnitude 7.0 temblor struck around 10:44 a.m. Dec. 5 off the coast of California, triggering a rare tsunami warning for the coast of Northern California and southern Oregon. The National Weather Service canceled the alert after roughly an hour and before the tsunami was expected to arrive.
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Castro Valley resident Margarita Campos was among the millions of Californians who received a tsunami warning notification on her phone. At the time of the warning, she was with her nephew at a toddler music class on the border of Berkeley and Oakland.
Initially, she and other people in the class heard the notification on their phones and thought they had received an Amber Alert.
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“We were just like what do we do?” Campos thought after receiving the alert.
“It was perplexing,” she told Patch. “I started thinking about it critically. I started investigating. The good thing is the notification is on your phone, so you have access right in your hands.”
Many Californians went to the California Department of Conservation’s website to look at tsunami hazard area maps, which are developed by the California Geological Survey using scientific information in coordination with local communities.
“Just after the earthquake, the National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning and the volume of traffic on CGS’s web map server was about 18,000% greater than the average daily volume of traffic, causing the server to overload for a brief period of time,” said Janice Mackey, a public information officer with the Department of Conservation. “Staff corrected the issue in very short order and the site was back online quickly.”
However, it wasn’t available during the tsunami warning.
Mackey noted that the Department of Conservation’s website, which hosts the California Geological Survey’s pages, is not the central site for emergency or evacuation notifications. The site also does not serve a notification or emergency response function.
Several federal and state sites, such as tsunami.gov, were up and running successfully and providing information for the public, Mackey said.
Still, some residents who went to the site were left wondering whether they needed to seek higher ground.
Although the tsunami warning was appreciated, it was also confusing, Campos said.
“We want more precision,” she said. “The tsunami warning wasn’t very precise.”
The recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami warning helped state officials test communication channels, data collection tools and more ahead of the next emergency.
“The latest event allowed us to test our internal and external communication pathways to ensure that we are working effectively with our local, regional, state and federal partners,” Mackey said. “Our earthquake and tsunami response field teams were able to test data collection tools and strategies and resolve issues that could slow down the collection of important scientific data during future events.”
The tsunami warning also served as a reminder for residents and visitors to be prepared for an emergency.
Tsunamis can affect any part of the coast of California. More than 150 tsunamis have slammed the state’s shores since 1800. A few tsunamis have caused fatalities or significant damage, including the 2011 tsunami that not only devastated Japan but caused $100 million in damage to the state’s ports and harbors.
Impacts to regions depend on the location and size of the earthquake generating a tsunami and the configuration of the coastline locally. Tsunami hazard areas can be quite large depending on the location — and the risk can vary.
The San Francisco Ferry Building, for example, is located with a tsunami hazard zone, but visitors can head a few blocks inland to get to safety. Although SeaWorld San Diego is located just outside the tsunami hazard zone, the zone surrounds the theme park.
Parts of Marin County are within the tsunami hazard zone, which makes San Quentin Rehabilitation Center’s population particularly vulnerable.
Beaches, lagoons, bays, estuaries, tidal flats and river mouths are the most dangerous places to be during a tsunami, according to the Earthquake Country Alliance. It is rare for a tsunami to reach more than a mile inland.
If no maps or signs are available in the event of a tsunami, officials advise people to head away from the coast. Residents should get to higher ground or head one to two miles inland.
“If people in a tsunami hazards zone feel an earthquake that lasts for a long time they should consider that a natural tsunami warning and evacuate once the shaking has stopped,” Mackey said. “In most places in the state, it is possible to evacuate by foot in time to avoid a tsunami.”
Officials urge residents who live within a tsunami hazard zone to develop an emergency plan, know their evacuation routes, and sign up to receive local emergency notifications. Residents can find more information about the specific hazards to their property by searching their address on the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services website.
“This event highlighted the importance of ongoing tsunami education and outreach in potentially vulnerable communities,” Mackey said. “Those living in coastal communities should know their tsunami zone. Also, local groups such as communities, cities, social groups can organize evacuation drill exercises — called tsunami walks — so that people can practice tsunami response activities.”
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