The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 28 March 1964 generated a great tsunami which was extremely damaging, not only in Alaska, but along Vancouver Island and Northern California. The tsunami waves affected the entire California coastline but were particularly high from Crescent City to Monterey with heights ranging from 2.1 - 6.3 meters (7-21 feet). Eleven persons lost their lives in Crescent City and tsunami damage was estimated at $7,414,000(1964 dollars). The estimated losses elsewhere along California were between $1,500,000 and $2,375,000 (1964 dollars). Extensive damage occurred also in the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors.

------------------------

Ok.. maybe only 11 people died.

DC, is that the same one where someone caught a bay draining on film when the earth underneath it cracked? I know it was in Alaska and it was an old film. Anyway, the film show the water rushing out of the bay like a bathtub due to large cracks that formed under the water.

I believe that the water from the bay was forced onshore and momentarially, a camera cought the exposed bottom of the bay

Ok, but I know I saw this video years ago. The images are stuck in my head.

Thanks kvrdave. You sure know a lot.















I now wonder what would happen to a submarine out in the ocean? :D Would it get carried away at 500 mph?

Simply amazing.

:(

stupid and useless UN at it again

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...2330-7268r.htm

The Bush administration yesterday pledged $15 million to Asian nations hit by a tsunami that has killed more than 22,500 people, although the United Nations' humanitarian-aid chief called the donation "stingy."
"The United States, at the president's direction, will be a leading partner in one of the most significant relief, rescue and recovery challenges that the world has ever known," said White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy.
But U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised.

It is beyond me why are we so stingy, really," the Norwegian-born U.N. official told reporters. "Christmastime should remind many Western countries at least, [of] how rich we have become."
"There are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy," he said, adding that politicians in the United States and Europe "believe that they are really burdening the taxpayers too much, and the taxpayers want to give less. It's not true. They want to give more."
In response to Mr. Egeland's comments, Mr. Duffy pointed out that the United States is "the largest contributor to international relief and aid efforts, not only through the government, but through charitable organizations. The American people are very giving."
Offers of aid have poured in from around the world in the past two days, with the European Union's executive arm releasing $4 million in emergency aid and pledging an additional $27 million. Canada and several European nations — including Spain, Germany, Ireland and Belgium — each pledged about $1 million yesterday.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell hinted that the $15 million U.S. offer was only the first installment of a larger aid package to those countries devastated by 30-foot waves triggered by a massive underwater earthquake.
"We also have to see this not just as a one-time thing," he said. "Some 20-plus thousand lives have been lost in a few moments, but the lingering effects will be there for years.
"The damage that was caused, the rebuilding of schools and other facilities will take time," he added. "So you need a quick infusion to stabilize the situation, take care of those who have been injured, get immediate relief supplies in, and then you begin planning for the longer haul."
If that planning calls for significant food aid, the United States might have to scramble.
"Even before the crisis in the Asia-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean, the demands for food aid were stretching capacity: demands in Sudan, demands in West Africa, demands in other areas hit by drought and fighting," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
"So even though we're giving a lot, the demand is very high," he added. "We're going to have to look at, as we move forward, what we can do to meet that demand."
Money and food are not the only types of aid being sent by the Bush administration. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also is sending a 21-member disaster-relief team to the region.
Also, the Pentagon has dispatched military patrol planes from the Pacific Fleet. President Bush has written letters of condolence to seven of the affected nations — Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, the Maldives and Malaysia.
Besides the United States, the largest single national donor was neighboring Australia, which offered $10 million and transportation aid.
"Australia will and should give more," Prime Minister John Howard said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies made an initial appeal of $6.7 million, which the federation says it will probably increase.
Officials from relief agencies, including the Red Cross and other nongovernmental organizations, met yesterday in Geneva to coordinate their efforts. In New York, diplomats from six of the affected nations met with U.N. officials.
The United Nations and other aid organizations have deployed hundreds of disaster-recovery and humanitarian-response teams to the region, and officials warn that the cost of the disaster could quickly reach "many billions of dollars."
"We may only know the full effect of this emergency weeks from now," Mr. Egeland told reporters yesterday at the United Nations in New York. "The disaster affecting Southeast Asia is not the biggest in recorded history, but the effects could be the biggest because more people live in exposed areas than ever before."
The tsunami-ravaged nations are particularly susceptible to epidemics as authorities struggle with thousands of corpses in unsanitary conditions. International organizations and nations including France, Japan, Israel, Kuwait, Hungary and others are sending medical personnel to some or all of the affected countries.
"The principal danger is that of diseases transmitted through water, especially malaria and diarrhea, and infections caught through respiration," said Hakan Sandbladh, a Red Cross official in Geneva.
Groups such as Doctors Without Borders warned that catastrophes tend to help localized illnesses turn into full-blown epidemics.
The destruction of water and sewage pipes, the disruption of vaccination programs and the lack of attention to disease-carrying pests such as rats and mosquitoes exacerbated the risk, they said.
In this situation, the stagnant pools of water created by the tsunami could boost the numbers of mosquitoes and other insects that transmit tropical maladies such as malaria and dengue fever.
"The risk of epidemics is also linked to concentrations of people whose houses have been destroyed," said Pauline Horrill of Doctors Without Borders.
Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported that a tsunami alert system in Hawaii that warns Pacific countries about devastating tidal waves detected the earthquake that led to the destruction across Indian Ocean nations.
But the absence of an alert system in Asia meant the information could not be sent out fast enough.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, established in 1949 after a huge wave killed more than 150 people in Hawaii, issued a bulletin at 3:14 p.m. local time or 8:14 a.m. in the affected area, when it detected an earthquake off Indonesia.
The NOAA's information bulletin said there was a possibility of a tsunami near the earthquake's epicenter, but that no destructive threat existed in the Pacific. The huge tidal waves instead swept across the Indian Ocean, killing people in 10 countries from Indonesia to Somalia.

Jan Egeland can kiss my ass.

...

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations' emergency relief coordinator said Tuesday that the international response to the tsunami catastrophe in southern Asia has been "very generous" despite earlier comments in which he called some nations "stingy."

"The international assistance that has come and been pledged from the United States, from Europe and from countries in the region has also been very generous," Jan Egeland said in brief remarks at the world body's headquarters.

"I have been misinterpreted when I yesterday said that my belief that rich countries in general can be more generous. This has nothing to do with any particular country or the response to this emergency. We're in early days and the response has so far been overwhelmingly positive," he added.

-rolleyes-

Egeland is a fucking moron. I wonder if he himself donated any money to the Red Cross and/or other aid foundations.

For those who would like to contribute.
 

Just posted by the AP...

Agencies Planning Aid to Earthquake and Tidal Wave Victims in Asia

just terrible stuff, over 52,000 dead now and rising :(

more stupids on the rise...

Sri Lanka rejects Israel rescuers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4130599.stm

Israel has cancelled plans to send a 150-person rescue mission to Sri Lanka after the devastated island objected to the military composition of the team.
The delegation - including 60 soldiers - had been due to set off on Tuesday to help after Sunday's tsunami disaster.

Instead, a smaller team will escort a convoy carrying emergency supplies, Israeli officials said.

Sri Lanka restored diplomatic ties with Israel in 2000, despite objections from the island's Muslim minority.

Neither side has officially explained the change of plan, although some reports say the objection came from Sri Lanka's military.

Sri Lanka Ambassador Diffa Digeratna is quoted by Jerusalem Post as saying that the change was due to the "the lack of accommodations in Colombo".

Israel's army had planned to send staff to set up field hospitals, including internal medicine and paediatric clinics, an Israeli army spokesman said.


A situation room has been set up to track down Israeli holidaymakers
Other Israeli agencies have sent emergency relief to Sri Lanka and other tsunami-hit countries.

Humanitarian organisation Latet sent a jumbo jet carrying 18 metric tons of supplies to Colombo, medical teams have been dispatched to Thailand and help offered to India, Haaretz reported.

A rescue-and-recovery team from the Jewish ultra-Orthodox organisation Zaka left for the region on Monday with equipment used for identifying bodies, as well as body bags.

Israel's foreign ministry has set up a situation room for relatives to track down hundreds of Israelis on holiday in the tsunami zone, who have not yet made contact.

No one from the country has yet been confirmed dead in the disaster.

Wow, those are unbelievable. The videos helped to clear up for me what can be so bad about a tsunami. In the first video, the wave wasn't the worst part, it was the fact that the sea level rose about 15-20 feet in a matter of seconds and must have taken some time to go back down. Unless there was some way to get high in a building or higher ground drowning would be tough to avoid.

The other video showed the wave coming in, which was freaky as shit. It didn't come very far ashore though, so it must have been nothing compared to other areas that were hit by the tsunami.

Here's a cool little story.

I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald (Australian newspaper) and I came across this harrowing survivor's account: http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/The...996555398.html

One part of the story hit me particularly hard:
The idea of a little boy wandering around with no one helping him is just heartbreaking.

Imagine my surprise when I read this article in the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asi...le_1104260244/
Same island, same town, same 2 year old blonde boy? It's got to be him
http://www.phuket-inter-hospital.co.th/boy2.jpg

It's good to see a little good news coming out of such a terrible catastrophy.

The dean of Kellogg (Northwestern's School of Management) was in Thailand on the beach.

Wow, i've been in the sportsbook and on the slopes since sunday, and this is the first I've heard of this. Sad times.

How the hell is it possible that you haven't heard about this? I assume you were in the Tahoe or Reno casinos, not a third world country while you were skiing.

Just horrible...the death toll just keeps rising every morning when I check the news.

We got up to Reno by noon on Sunday. Placed bets on the 1pm games at the Circus Circus sportsbook. Played poker and watched the games till 7pm. None of the game channels mentioned this at all.

Had dinner and then gambled at Golden Phoenix till 1am. Left for Mt Rose at 7:30am. After that, we hit Thunder Valley for dinner and more gambling, and got back to the bay area late Monday night.

I feel like I've been gone for a week.

Just saw that little kid on the NYC 5pm news. The report indicated that his father has been located alive in a different hospital but his mother remains missing.

The first video clip seems to be down. Here it is at a different site:

http://www.dagbladet.no/download/tsunamiphuket.wmv

this one's down too?

No?