What Is the Tsunami Danger to Venice?

A couple of years ago in Venice, tsunami evacuation route signs were erected. At first, I thought that they were a waste of money. They only stated the obvious, that residents should run away from the water.

However, the day after the Japanese tsunami I was, like dozens of my neighbors, out on the beach with a camera to watch. The Venice pier was closed and police kept us far back from the water. There wasn’t much of anything to see.

In contrast to Santa Cruz and Crescent City, in Marina del Rey boats got slapped around a bit but there was no damage. Damage to the California coast north of us topped $50 million.

Our biggest pending earthquake threat, a major quake on the San Andreas fault, won’t produce a tsunami. So, how real is a tsunami threat to Venice?

The good news is that unlike Crescent City we’re not likely to be affected here by tsunamis generated across the Pacific or in Alaska.

However a tsunami could be triggered here by something that has happened in Southern California in the past: an earthquake-generated undersea landslide. According to one projection, if one were to occur off the coast here a tsunami would batter low-lying areas such as Venice and cause up to $42 billion in damage. Unlike the hours of warning we got from the Japanese quake, waves could reach us in about a minute.

Tsunami predictions have improved. Two national warning centers are now watching for tsunami triggering earthquakes. Ocean sensors are now in place to monitor wave height as tsunamis cross the sea.

But more needs to be done, especially in education. Anybody who has lived in California for any length of time . But how many of us understand what to do during a real tsunami emergency? If a big one threatens, next time I’m following the arrow on the sign at the end of my block and running away from the beach.