Incredible Walt, something I don't really wish to experience, the first tim=
e
I arrived in the USA in 1996 we had a 7.9 earthquake in the Seattle area, I
didn't do any research on the area and quickly found out I was to be living
in a bloody fault zone!!
I have been involved in Bombings (The pub bombings by the IRA IN 1974, TWO
OF MY MATES WERE KILLED AND THANK GOD I SURVIVED) Car crashes and so on, bu=
t
I would never want to drown the way these poor buggers did while enjoying
themselves on the beach.
Give me a car to a boat anytime, I have this awful fear of the water, this
is why I don't record with a hydrophone, stuff it mate.......
My heart goes out to all those who lost their lives down in Asia.
Martyn
Martyn Stewart
Bird and Animal Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
http://www.naturesound.org
N47.65543 W121.98428
Redmond. Washington. USA
Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat!
425-898-0462
-----Original Message-----
From: Walter Knapp
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 11:03 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Disaster Relief
From: "M, J, & V Phinney" <>
> Despite the continuous news footage and ever-rising casualty totals, my
mind
> refuses to comprehend the enormity of the situation. Reading first hand
> accounts such as this helps to bring a sense of reality to this disaster =
-
> though perhaps only those who witnessed it have a true perspective.
I went through the tidal wave after the Alaskan earthquake.
We were on the Oregon coast at Yaquina Bay, sleeping on our 23' cruising
sailboat in the marina when the first wave hit. When it became obvious
that we were not safe on the marina we ran toward shore. Half the large
floating marina broke away and floated off upbay, with our boat still
tied in it's slip, cabin light on, radio playing.
By the time we got to the marina operator and got the only boat ready to
go (a new one ready to be delivered the next day) the launch crane was
flooded. We simply launched the boat in the parking lot off it's
trailer. They got to our boat just as the wave had turned and started
out. Pulled our boat free before it could ground and towed it back to
the remaining dock. In a very strong outbound current.
A hour and a half later the 2nd wave hit. At the height of it the large
hollow concrete floats that supported the dock were simply being sucked
out from under it. Luckily not enough went. The dock we were tied to
attempted to collapse and suck our boat under. But we managed to get
enough lines to pilings to hold against the current. The bay looked like
being in the middle of a rapids.
The third wave hit about a hour later. By then every single line on the
boat was tied to something, including long lines tied to pilings on
shore. We had moved the boat to the fuel dock, which was protected from
the current by a point of land. It was not quite as powerful as the
other two. Following that there were a series of much smaller waves
until it was finally over about dawn.
Each of these rounds was very short, with the usual quiet, calm night in
between. It was a unreal contrast.
The next morning was bright and sunny, a perfect day. People arrived to
the sight of a boat tied to everything with no apparent reason. One
marina employee was wandering around the bay gathering the remaining
concrete floats that had not sunk. The marina operator was patching a
ding in the new boat. The new owner was very nice about it all, happy
his boat could help.
During the first wave a powerful Coast Guard motor lifeboat happened to
be in the channel outbound. At full throttle they were swept backward
into the bay.
A 50' Chris Craft turned up at the marina that morning. It had been
ripped from it's dock farther down the bay and thrown into the log boom
area of the local sawmill. It had been holed, but they managed to get
pumps on it fast enough. A temporary patch covered the holes, it was at
our marina to use the lift to pull the engines and try to save them. The
marine railway farther down bay was pulling damaged boats as fast as
possible to put on temporary patches.
That series of tidal waves occurred off season when marina's were fairly
empty. And in the middle of night. It caused damage as far south as
California. It could have been much worse at a different time. Maybe not
quite the same thing, but I have some idea what it was like. The power
is awesome.
Note the hollywood depiction of a tidal wave is not exactly correct for
either the one I went through or this latest one. It's not a huge tall
breaking wave in either case. The sea just rises and floods in like a
swift flowing river. And then all that water flows right back out to sea
with almost no pause between in and out. It looks like a lot of people
who died were simply swept out to sea and could not swim back. On some
other shapes of coast it may more resemble the hollywood version.
Walt
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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