I live in San Francisco and as we all know San Francisco is in a fault area, the San Andreas fault, now I don’t live in the city of San Francisco, I live 21.94 miles away from San Francisco that is like 30 minutes. Anyway, what I wanted to know is how high above sea level should I be to be safe from a tsunami and how do I find out about my city’s flood zone?
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Being in a fault zone has no bearing on the likelihood of being flooded– unless San Francisco and surrounding areas totally submerge into the Pacific during an earthquake. You are more likely to be flooded by a levee breaking than by a tsunami. With the melting of polar ice sheets you might see flooding due to sea level rise, though this is expected to be greater on the Eastern coast of North America.
Some sites list average tsunami heights between 30 and 70 meters. However, the Chilean quake of February 26, 2010 only caused waves of 1.7 to 2 meters (5.5 to 6.5 feet) high in Hawaii. The tallest tsunami of modern times was generated in Lituya Bay, Alaska. It was over 1700 feet tall, and was caused by the side of a mountain sliding into the bay. Most tsunamis are unnoticed by people when they hit land, but since the majority of human habitation is along the world’s coastlines, tsunamis tend to cause loss of property and life. Below are several links to sites with info on flooding and tsunamis.
You should move to Wisconsin. The last time we had a tsunami was about 130,000 B.C.
10 meters+ above sea level is pretty safe, and 21 miles in-land is even safer
You want to be at least 10 metres about sea level.
If you are near the ocean and you feel a large earthquake, you should go inland or to higher ground IMMEDIATELY- do not wait for an official warning, it is far much better to be safe than sorry.
If you are on a boat when a tsunami is coming, you should leave the harbour for the open water. Tsunamis are scarcely noticed when they pass under a boat in deep water.
If you are in a float plane in a harbour, take off immediately for a safe landing area on a lake or on land away from areas at risk.
If you’re camping on a beach or near an ocean, please do not be an idiot and try to gather up your gear… abandon them and get out of there.
Following a tsunami, do not return to the area after the first wave, tsunamis involve several great powerful waves. Wait for emergency officials to give the all clear before returning home or to the area that you were in.
You can contact your city office or look at the city’s website to find the flood zone. You can also go to http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/landing_pages/landing0000_1.jsp?WT.mc_id=FEMA_Google1&WT.srch=1 to determine your flood risk.
Hope these help!