Tsunami expert: `We dodged a bullet'

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

HILO, Hawaii (AP) - A official at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says Hawaii "dodged a bullet" after a major earthquake sent powerful waves roiling around the Pacific.

It still will be about an hour before officials will be willing to give an all-clear in Hawaii, but there were no immediate reports of major damage around the Pacific rim. just tidal surges that reached up to about seven feet in some island chains.

Gerard Fryer, a geophysist for the tsunami center, defended the decision to urge evacuations of coastal areas, saying "better safe than sorry."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100227/D9E4Q1NO0.html

[maddezmom]

1. watched him live here

http://www.kitv.com/video/22691778/index.html

and they probably will be calling off the warning within the hour according to the reporter.

[Cha]

2. Good! Amazing how all that Ocean

water getting disturbed like that didn't do any damage.

[prezpeng]

3. nice

Why so much earthquakes tho? End of the world stuff?

[tclambert]

5. I'm sure Pat Robertson will find a way to paint it as God punishing the gays.

[Taverner]

6. Oh yeah - wasn't Hawai'i the first State to start 'marryin' those queerz'?

He could've made that case - and chances are, he was thinking of it until it turned out that it wasn't that disruptive.

But if it turned out bad financially, he would have moaned about that...

He's a fucking grifter, that's all he is

[Taverner]

4. NO THEY DIDN'T

Look, that means by their choice, they inadvertantly missed instant death. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Look: Let's just say the Tsunami was bad. Those surfers (maybe) and those beachcombers (probably) would be dead. None else would be though. They cleared the highways. They emptied the beaches. They did everything you're supposed to do with an approaching Tsunami.

Waikiki might have been destroyed, but that would be IT. Yes, they would have taken it in the pocketbook, but not in the life category. No one (other than the blatantly dangerous) would have died.


And to top that, consider every prediction came true. The Tsunami hit at around 11 am (just like they thought). The scientists were absolutely right, giving us the ability and information to dodge the worst case scenario.

[Posteritatis]

8. I do sorta worry that that means a future one will be worse handled

People suck at risk assessment and/or not making the previous incident the universal rule - just look at how DU reacts about a lot of things - so I wonder if, in the event of a more serious wave, people will shrug it off because "nothing happened last time."

(How to think properly about stuff like that would probably wind up on my List Of Things That Must Be Learned In School when I'm tyannical overlord of the future or something.)

[Taverner]

9. Me too - people seem to fail to discern danger

Yes, sometimes it can strike all of a sudden, and sometimes it doesnt. That is nature, the chaos theory and everything. Accept it at your leisure.

But in the grand scheme of things, say this waas the SE Tsunami - would you rather be on Diamond Head peak or the beach?

[Rhiannon12866]

7. MSNBC update: Tsunami expert: Hawaii ‘dodged a bullet’

No damage reported from initial waves triggered by quake in Chile

updated 12 minutes ago

EWA BEACH, Hawaii - A tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Chile swept ashore in Hawaii on Saturday, but the initial waves did not appear to cause significant damage.

Hawaii "dodged a bullet," said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The tsunami warning was lifted at about 12:40 p.m. local time, less than an hour before the first wave arrived.

The first waves looked more like an extreme fluctuation in the tide than the giant tsunami that Hawaii and the rest of the Pacific Ocean were bracing for after the magnitude-8.8 quake devastated Chile.

The wave began affecting Hilo Bay on the Big Island just before noon local time. Water began pulling away from shore, exposing reefs and sending dark streaks of muddy, sandy water offshore. Water later washed over Coconut Island, a small park off the coast of Hilo.

The tsunami was causing a series of surges that were about 20 minutes apart, and the waves arrived later and smaller than originally predicted. The highest wave at Hilo measured 5.5 feet high, while Maui saw some as high as 6 feet.

No damage was immediately reported, but scientists cautioned the waves would continue into the afternoon.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35617640/ns/world_news-chile_earthquake/

[darkstar]

10. Admittedly ignorant lay person question:

(DU's been brutal about "science literacy" today)

Could phase cancellation from the waves caused by the Japanese quake have served to damp down the waves from the Chilean quake?

[MineralMan]

11. Nope. Timing is wrong, by a factor of days.

[Historic NY]

12. I noticed they snidely used inches to describe 1 foot...people should

be happy they were warned in advance, no one can accurately predict that the energy generated boy the earth quake would disperse sooner rather than later. (in other words not enough of a kill for the press)

[Dappleganger]

13. It'll be interesting to see what they learn from this one...

with all of the data-gathering tools they have now, I wonder how it will help them improve the tsunami warning systems as well as earthquake predictions. They've certainly had their hands full of data this year!