National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce


 

FY 2008

Lessons for California from the November 2006 tsunami in Crescent City, California

Barberopoulou, A., B. Uslu, and L. Dengler

In Solutions to Coastal Disasters 2008: Tsunamis, Wallendorf, L., L. Ewing, C. Jones, and B. Jaffe (eds.), ASCE, Oahu, HI, 13–16 April 2008, 192–203., http://link.aip.org/link/?ASC/313/18/1, doi: 10.1061/40978(313)18 (2008)


On November 15, 2006 the harbor at Crescent City in Del Norte County, California was hit by a series of tsunami surges generated by the Mw 8.3 Kuril Islands earthquake. This earthquake produced the largest Kuril tsunami to reach Crescent City since 1933 when the tide gauge was installed. The largest amplitude surge, 1.76 m peak to trough, was the sixth cycle, arriving over two hours after the first wave arrived. The tsunami caused an estimated $9.2 million in losses to the small boat basin, damaging the floating docks and several boats. The event highlighted the vulnerability of harbors from a relatively modest tsunami, problems with the tsunami warning system for a marginal event, and the particular vulnerability of the Crescent City harbor area. We look at how the tsunami warning system and human response can exacerbate or reduce the impacts of tsunamis.



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