European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Gordon Burton head of the Pacific tsunami warning Center in Hawaii working at a monitoring device. To Una mls remain one of the sea s most baffling Phenomena. Tidal wave warning network by Stewart Taggart associated press Orty years ago this Spring an earthquake in Alaska s Aleutian islands unleashed a tidal wave that spread across the Pacific and crashed into Hawaii killing 159 people and destroying $25 million Worth of property. Tsunami. A japanese word meaning great Harbor wave. This May thousands of people were evacuated to High ground when another earthquake occurred in the same area and warnings were issued for a Pacific wide tsunami. The Waves that arrived in Hawaii were no bigger than those on a Good Day for surfing. Tsunami. One of the sea s most mysterious and baffling Phenomena difficult to forecast. I can Tell you More about what we Don t know about a tsunami than what we do know says Gordon Burton head of the Pacific tsunami warning Center operated by the National weather service at Ewa Beach As part of an International warning network. By the time it hits a coast it s an unpredictable  when an earthquake measuring 7.7. On the Richter scale was recorded beneath the Aleutian islands on May 7. The Center quickly confirmed a potentially destructive tsunami had been generated based upon tide station readings at Adak Island. Evacuations were ordered along the coastal areas of Hawaii and the West coasts of the Mainland United Stales and Canada. Travelling across the Ocean at speeds of up to 600 Mph tsunamis Are often imperceptible to ships at sea. The Waves can have peaks and troughs of just inches separated by hundreds of Miles. The Hollywood concept of a tidal wave is a giant Wall of water that comes Over the  Burton says. That just could never  ii often is not until the wave reaches shallow Shoreline Waters that a tsunami can swell into Large destructive Waves usually a series of them. Scientists can estimate when a tsunami will arrive but not its intensity. But Burton says officials often err on the Side of caution when the deadly potential is not known. In the past five years about 200 Pacific quakes have been recorded but during that time the Center has issued just two tsunami watches and one tsunami warning. That came on May 7. The first wave to arrive in Honolulu on that Date was followed by three others in Quick succession 11 to 15 minutes apart a Good sign. Had he Waves been farther apart they could have been More destructive Burton says. With those Short term wave trains you Are looking Al More rapid oscillations of the sea. There is not the time for it to change drastically in size Burton  45-60 minute wave train has much More time to  most tsunamis Are linked to Strong earthquakes beneath the sea in which one massive tectonic plate suddenly lifts above another. In such areas known As subduction zones the rising plate suddenly displaces a huge mass of water which in turn creates a tsunami. Once the Ocean is disturbed it wants to get Back to equilibrium and in doing so goes through a series of oscillations and that is the wave train that is a tsunami Burton says. As the Waves radiate out from the source it May not be the first one that is the most dangerous. There can be quiet until the second or third wave comes Burton says. Burton says people who put out to sea from Honolulu after the May 7 tsunami warning was issued began returning to Shore after the anticipated first wave came in at 6 p m. Many were coming in just As the third and fourth Waves arrived All but unseen. The Waves can create severe whips like Shoreline currents throwing boats perilously out of control. Many residents along the coast of the Mainland flocked to shorelines before it was Safe Burton says. Burton recalls a similar occurrence in Crescent City calif., during the Good Friday earthquake of 1964. The downtown pretty much had been inundated by the first couple of Waves and after the second wave had departed they assumed it was All Over Burton says. Several people went into downtown merchants went Back to clean up their stores and several people went Back into the local bar to finish their drinks arriving in time for the third and fourth  eleven people were killed. Five people live at the tsunami warning Center wearing beepers automatically set off when seismic activity is recorded that could generate a tsunami earthquakes of 6.5 or larger. After the May 7 earthquake. Burton says he and others quickly charted the times the tsunami could arrive in Hawaii and on the West coast of North America and passed the information along to civil defense agencies. Subduction zones Likely to produce destructive Pacific wide tsunamis Are located beneath the Aleutian islands the Kamchatka Peninsula in the soviet Union and the West coasts of Central and South America. The san Andreas fault off California is expected to Shear laterally and is not expected to create the kind of vertical displacement needed to create a tsunami Burton says. However the massive jolting could cause Ocean sediments beneath the surface to go tumbling toward the sea floor causing the kind of disturbance which could create a tsunami. In Litu a Bay Alaska an uninhabited area near Juneau an earthquake in which plates move literally across each other caused part of a Mountain to slip into the sea creating a sea wave that climbed up to 1.600 feet High after it hit Shore. Two fishermen were killed. The wave itself was not 1.600 feel High Burton stresses but was Able to climb that High due to the Force behind it. The Pacific Ocean s ring of fire Active geology makes it the most frequent spot in the world for such Phenomena Burton says. There have been two tsunamis in the Atlantic this Century compared to several Hundred in the Pacific he says. He said three or four tsunamis Are generated in the Pacific each year but the Public does t usually hear about them because they Aren t deemed to pose any threat. Page 14 the stars and stripes