Though Southern California is under a tsunami watch after a massive earthquake off the coast of Russia, history shows Angelenos are unlikely to see a towering wall of water.
As detailed by the Oceanside Fire Department, a similarly strong earthquake off the coast of Chile in 1960 created the “most significant remote tsunami” to hit Southern California in recorded history.
That quake “generated a tsunami resulting in 4-foot waves at Santa Monica and Port Hueneme, and caused major damage to the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors.”
In more recent history, the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, an uninhabited volcanic island near Tonga, created a tsunami in early 2022.
That tsunami was the first since 1964 to flood California land, though that surge affected Northern, not Southern, California.
Though the 2022 tsunami also primarily affected Northern California, it “corresponded with peak high-tide conditions,” resulting in “significant damage” to harbors in Ventura and elsewhere.
In Los Angeles, the maximum wave height was about 1.3 feet.
According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, only one person has died as a result of a tsunami in California since 2006, and that death occurred in Northern California.
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