How would a tsunami impact the Bay Area? Scientists weigh in
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Humboldt County earthquake and Tsunami Warning left many people wondering -- what am I supposed to do?
Many got word to evacuate or move to higher ground -- but are those warnings more dire depending on where you live?
"They did the right thing in this situation. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake is not a small earthquake, it could have been devastation."
LIVE UPDATES: The aftermath in Northern California after 7.0 quake
Amy Palmer is referring to the Tsunami Warning that was issued Thursday in the Bay Area, and along the West Coast after a 7.0 earthquake struck off-shore along the Northern California Coast. Palmer is Deputy Director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
"Sometimes when the earthquake happens a little farther out there are buoys that give us an indication of how big the waves might be. In this case, we didn't have that data," said Palmer.
After the warning was issued Thursday, and before it was canceled, some San Franciscans went to Coit Tower, the highest spot in the city's North Beach neighborhood.
In Sausalito, where there was a Christmas tree lighting Thursday night, the talk was still all about those tsunami warnings that went out.
"I didn't panic that much," said Meili Bruinsma who was close to the Bay in Sausalito for her new art gallery opening when the warning went out.
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"We were way up on top of a hill so we weren't concerned," said Hank Friedman.
It begs the question, how safe are we here in the Bay Area if a tsunami hits?
Costas Synolakis heads USC's Tsunami Research Center.
"We are not yet scientifically at the point that we can predict immediately after an earthquake, an off-shore earthquake, how big the Tsunami will be," said Synolakis.
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Tsunami scientist and adjunct USC professor Jose Borrero says that if there was a tsunami, waves would likely look different after coming under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the San Francisco Bay.
"They do get significantly reduced and we saw some of this back in 2011 with the Japan Tsunami. Generally, we wouldn't be thinking of the big mammoth wall of water somewhere inside the Bay. That's a different story if you're somewhere outside on the coast," said Borrero.
He says there are exceptions though and Synolakis says that those in cities along the San Francisco Bay should still use caution.
"Even small tsunami waves can generate really large currents. When the earthquake is so close and in the first minutes it happens, we really do not know the information very well so it's important to actually always air on the side of caution."
