A California view of the 1964 Alaska earthquake: Lessons learned, forgotten, and relearned about reducing tsunami vulnerability

At the time of the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake, U.S. tsunami hazard was considered a Hawaiian problem.  On March 27, 1964, it took over three hours for a tsunami alert bulletin to reach California and Crescent City, California's northernmost coastal city, did not begin notifying vulnerable residents until a half hour before surges arrived.  In Crescent City, the tsunami killed ten, flooded 29 blocks, damaged or destroyed nearly 100 structures and led to permanently altering the downtown area.  The tsunami also caused damage in other California coastal areas, killing a person in Bodega Bay and Los Angeles, destroying boats and docks in San Francisco Bay and wreaking havoc on many areas of the coast.  This talk recounts the events of 1964 from a California and Crescent City perspective, traces mitigation measures taken after the the tsunami, and examines how California's tsunami hazard and tsunami mitigation efforts have changed in the past five decades.

Speaker: Dr. Lori Dengler, Humboldt State University