Entire Pacific Rim Braced for Tsunami

In the aftermath of Chile’s devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake Saturday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning to 53 nations and territories, prompting residents of waterside communities all along the Pacific Rim to made preparations and/or seek higher ground. In Japan alone, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated, no doubt mindful that 140 Japanese had been killed by a stronger Chilean earthquake in 1960.

Although the PTWC may now be criticized by some for over-reacting — as they estimated wave heights to be roughly twice what they actually were — we certainly would expect such an agency to err on the side of caution, especially since memories are still fresh from the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, which killed 230,000 in the Indian Ocean, most of whom has no warning whatsoever.

As reports trickle in from sailors in many parts of the Pacific Rim, the consensus in most areas seems to be that the swell size, while abnormal, did only minor damage. One horrible exception, however, is that 147 people were reportedly killed on Juan Fernandez Island, which lies 400 miles off the coast of Chile, when the tsunami struck. The following are excerpts from reader reports:

Brian and Claudia of the L.A.-based sailboat Skylight had just begun their long-awaited cruise to Mexico when they heard the Coast Guard’s Imminent Tsunami Warning via VHF: "We were in mid-channel about three hours out of Los Angeles Harbor when we saw a black line on the horizon moving fast towards us. It was about 4-6 foot high . . . and looked like a large boulder field of boat-shaped boulders. . . Passing through it was a bit rough but very uneventful."

From Shelter Cove Marina in San Diego, Tom Wurfl of the Lagoon 42 Catatude reports: "The tsunami wreaked havoc. Apparently the current running in and out of America’s Cup basin was phenomenal."

From Santa Cruz, Tim Litvin of the Cheoy Lee OS40 Sala-ma-Sond writes:
"The tsunami made for some dockside excitement. Although we had an outgoing tide when it first hit, we had a current coming into the harbor reported to be close to 10 knots. As the very long-period tsunami swells came in and out of the harbor, I made a mark on one of the pilings that secures our floating dock, and then measured the dock going up and down. Over the course of one 10-minute span we saw the dock rise and fall four feet. To landside observers it was probably unspectacular, but to a boat owner, the strain on the infrastructure and dock lines was palpable."

From Banderas Bay, Mexico, Behan Gifford of the Eagle Harbor, WA-based Stevens 47 Totem writes, "The short version is that there was about a one-meter swing in water level with repeat cycles over a few hours. This mainly resulted in great entertainment for the dozens of folks gathered on the breakwall, as MEXORC racing boats going out for a practice day ran aground in the channel. Not sure why they thought it was a good idea to go out at the bottom swing of both tsunami surge and a full moon low tide."

From Waila, Maui, Mark and Sandi Joiner of Dolphin report: "The tsunami was pretty much a non-event here. All the boats emptied out of all the harbors and took to sea (it was quite a sight on the horizon). But the worst we had was a 3+ foot surge in the Kahului harbor here, which fortunately was at low tide. Several sailboats took to sea on a gorgeous afternoon and, like all sailors should, were obviously enjoying a great day of sailing during their enforced absence from the marinas!"

From the Ilikai Marina on Oahu, which is directly behind the Ala Wai, Dan Goldthorpe writes: "I counted about 50 boats that put to sea. There was a 100-ft line out of McDonalds (not my first choice for stocking up). The grocery store was nuts — one guy was really proud that he got a jump on everyone else in stocking up. He had a case of Keystone Light and a couple jugs of Black Velvet!"

From Kaiarara Bay, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, Eric and Emmy Newbould of the Brickyard Cove-based Flying Dutchman 37 Nataraja write: "No large wave was forecast for us, but strong tidal flows and big tidal changes were expected. On our way to a new deep-water anchorage inside the bay, we could see the water off our starboard side was humped up and the current against us was pretty strong. But all is well here and we should be fine."

Compared to the earthquake’s horrific effect ashore, the abnormal swell action was but a minor footnote. But the widespread warnings served as a comforting illustration of how fast the PTWC warning system can alert authorities and media. Better to be safe than sorry.