Chilean Earthquke and resulting Tsunami worries.

[What Exit?]

Magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Chile this morning. Tsunami warnings out and going off even in Hawaii. The news reports are everywhere on this.
Too early to know what damage was done it Chile.

I wonder if Pearl Harbor is getting all the ships out to sea in a hurry. Best place for a boat to be in a Tsunami is usually out to sea with the bow pointed into the swell and cruising at a good speed.

[What Exit?]

Latest reports for NOAA

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG
COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.

A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE
CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD
COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS
CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.
TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT
RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI
WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL
QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE
CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED
BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH
TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.

THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

1119 AM HST SAT 27 FEB 2010

FORECAST WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AND AMPLITUDES CREST TO TROUGH.

HILO 1105AM HST 2.5 METERS
HONOLULU 1137AM HST 0.5 METERS
KAHULUI 1126AM HST 2.2 METERS
NAWILIWILI 1142AM HST 0.9 METERS
HALEIWA 0.5 METERS
KAWAIHAE 0.6 METERS

[Zuul]

For comparison on those waves, high tide on Honolulu this time of year doesn't exceed much beyond two feet.

Since they have plenty of warning and it's so far away from the epicenter, hopefully everyone in Hawaii will be just fine. I'm still waiting for more news on the damage to Chile.

[OtakuLoki]

Any reports about what Navy ships we have that can respond to Chile? Just considering those numbers is horrifying - 8.8 is 600 times, or more, the power of the recent Haitian earthquake. (Though Chile isn't nearly as poverty stricken - that may mitigate some of the damage.) The quick reports I've seen are indicating that they've had to evacuate hospitals, which is never something I'd consider a good sign.

I can only imagine what damage has been done to water supplies. The real devastation of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, after all, came from the fires that followed in its wake, as gas lines ruptured, and water mains meant that fire fighters didn't have access to water through much of the city.


ETA: I hope that the Obama administration is starting to activate USNS Mercy. That's the other hospital ship the Navy has in commission, and it's home ported in San Diego. It may even be worthwhile to consider moving USNS Comfort from Haiti, since I imagine that given the time since the earthquake there they've duplicated many of her facilities with new build on land. (Yes, I have a phenomenal faith in the SeaBees.)

ETAA: According to Wikipedia, Mercy is currently in drydock, though she's scheduled to be available again come March 2. I hope that may be expedited.

[ivan astikov]

I thought each level on the Richter Scale increased by a factor of 10?

Would a factor 10 earthquake be capable of sending the Californian coast into the sea? It's no wonder they are so nutty out there with that threat hanging over them.

[Queen of Hearts]

Here's a link to the USGS earthquake page:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

[RabbitMage]

I'd completely forgotten until a day after the fact that my cousin and his wife are vacationing in Hawaii right now. They got plenty of notice, and they and about 10,000 other people (according to them) were hanging out on some high land, waiting for the danger to pass.

I feel almost guilty about this. Rabbitmages lack the ability to control nature, but after all those hurricanes across the Pacific last fall, I'd commented to some people that there must be a lot of plate shifting going on, and it would only be a matter of time until that worked it's way around to out side of the ocean. Oops.

[Zuul]

It's good to know your cousin and his wife are okay. My niece's family over there apparently got through it unscathed as well. Hurrah for early warning!