| "Our feeling was that if they have occurred in the past, they could certainly occur in the future." | |
| Joe Miketta, New Jersey office of the National Weather Service |
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According to 1884 newspaper reports, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake near Philadelphia generated huge waves that backed up the rising tide in New Jersey's Delaware River, overflowing wharves and snapping dock lines. This is just one historic account in New Jersey that researchers now believe was a tsunami.
While the probability of a large tsunami impacting the coast of New Jersey is small, research has revealed that the U.S.'s mid-Atlantic region could experience a damaging tsunami. As a result, federal and state partners in New Jersey and Delaware worked together to create a tsunami awareness brochure geared toward coastal communities and residents.
"Our feeling was that if they have occurred in the past, they could certainly occur in the future," says Joe Miketta, warning coordination meteorologist with the Mount Holly, New Jersey, office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service. "Our goal was not to scare people but to let them know that tsunamis can happen here, and what can be done to protect themselves next time tsunami waves move ashore."
"One of the challenges," notes Tom Herrington, director of the Stevens–New Jersey Sea Grant Cooperative Extension in Coastal Processes, "was reaching a local audience that feels this isn't a threat."
Common Causes
A tsunami, or "harbor wave" in Japanese, is a series of waves that can be caused by earthquakes, aboveground and underwater landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and meteoric impacts. Tsunamis in the Atlantic Basin are most commonly generated by earthquakes and landslides.
After the massive destruction of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Miketta notes, "I think we're all aware of what a tsunami can do."
Promoting Awareness
To develop a brochure that describes tsunamis, their potential dangers, and ways to prepare for them, the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium and its New Jersey Sea Grant Extension Program collaborated with the Stevens Institute of Technology, National Weather Service, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, Delaware Emergency Management Agency, and University of Delaware Sea Grant.
"We talked with them about the dangers of a tsunami, and we brainstormed with the experts at the universities to determine what the danger really is, the relative frequency, and what the public could do," Miketta says.
What's Realistic?
The experts determined that a 50-foot wave hitting the coast of New Jersey would be extremely unlikely, while a wave in the 10-foot range would be more probable.
This guidance was important, says Herrington, because the standard advice for avoiding a tsunami is to climb atop a hill or cliff—something that is nearly impossible to do along the low elevations of the New Jersey and Delaware coastlines.
The most reasonable response plan for the area, Herrington says, was to encourage people to find a strong multi-story structure, such as a parking garage, and go to the highest level.
The brochure warns people to seek higher ground if they feel an earthquake or if the ocean rapidly recedes, and explains that a tsunami experienced in the mid-Atlantic region might be generated by an earthquake or landslide in Puerto Rico, Portugal, or the Canary Islands.
Spreading the Word
In addition to being available on-line, 10,000 brochures were printed and distributed last year by the partners, as well as by coastal communities that gave them to new residents and vacation renters.
Miketta and other weather service staff members also provide tsunami-awareness training to beach patrols and lifeguards, as well as to local emergency managers.
Their goal, Miketta says, is that people know what to do if NOAA offshore buoys detect a tsunami and the weather service issues a warning.
"Obviously this topic is important to every coastal region in the world," says Herrington. "There's a lot of information about tsunamis out there, but little is geared towards the East Coast. It's important to really tailor this information to your community's needs."
For more information on tsunamis, point your browser to www.erh.noaa.gov/er/phi/reports/tsunami.htm or www.tsunami.noaa.gov. For information on the National Weather Service's TsunamiReady program, go to www.tsunamiready.noaa.gov. For information on the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, go to www.pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami-hazard/. To view the New Jersey Tsunami Awareness brochure, go to www.njmsc.org/Sea_Grant/PublicationPDFs/Tsunami_NJSG06650.pdf. You may also contact Joe Miketta at (609) 261-6602, ext. 223, or Joseph.Miketta@noaa.gov, or Tom Herrington at (201) 216-5320, or Thomas.Herrington@stevens.edu.
