> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Tsunami threat a reality in SM Bay - URL: https://www.smdp.com/tsunami-threat-a-reality-in-sm-bay/ - Published: 2004-12-29T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T05:54:34.000Z - Author: John Wood - Tags: Environment, Pier, #archive-import *Indian Ocean tragedy has officials looking at their plans should one strike here* SM BEACH — Within 10 minutes of an earthquake in Santa Monica Bay, waves of up to 13 feet could pound on local beaches, emergency officials said Tuesday. Low-lying areas of Santa Monica like the beaches and pier, parts of Ocean Park and the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon likely would flood under such a scenario, according to city and county rescue workers, who urged coastal dwellers to move inland quickly after feeling the earth shake. “The best advice is run, don’t take that car,” said Los Angeles County Lifeguard Capt. Angus Alexander, who serves on a special tsunami task force comprised of area officials. “We’ve found out that motor homes are just floating battering rams with propane tanks attached to them.” If the earthquake’s center is distant and emergency workers have ample warning that a large wave is headed towards shore, a plan is in place to facilitate evacuation of the most dangerous areas. Officials would use road blocks, megaphones, helicopters, emergency vehicles and any other tool available to direct people to safety, said Paul Weinberg, the emergency services coordinator at Santa Monica’s City Hall. “The cliffs provide a tremendous amount of protection,” he said. “If there’s no cliff there to provide protection, we would want them to go to higher ground or further in.” Timing would be critical. Though a federal system is in place to alert state and local officials to the more distant tsunamis, an underwater earthquake in the Santa Monica Bay could trigger a tsunami that would hit local beaches in 10 minutes or less, Alexander said. “They’re so quick,” he added. “There’s no warning. There’s no time to evacuate.” Los Angeles County Lifeguard Capt. Garth Canning said lifeguards would work to evacuate the beaches until the very last moment it was safe to do so. “I guess the biggest concern is if something happened directly off shore, we would have very little time warning,” Canning said. “Basically what we would do, if we got a notice of an impending tsunami, we would put the word out as quickly as we possibly could, right there locally, on the beach.” DANGER IN THE BAY Of particular concern to scientists are fault lines located off of Catalina Island and a steep oceanic shelf off of the Palos Verdes peninsula. If the Catalina fault lines erupted or if an earthquake triggered a landslide on the Palos Verdes shelf, officials expect multiple tsunami waves of six to 13 feet tall, which would cause flooding in lowlying areas and what’s called a “withdraw,” where the water sucks far out to sea. “It wouldn’t be just a single wave,” Alexander said. “It would be a series of waves.” For those who don’t have time to scramble inland or to higher ground, officials suggested seeking shelter on the third or fourth floor of a strong cement structure, like a hotel. Two-or three-story residences made out of wood aren’t ideal because they aren’t as resistant to the powerful water surge, but they too can serve as high ground in an emergency, officials said. While an earthquake in the Santa Monica Bay may cause a tsunami wave within minutes, tsunamis generated by large earthquakes farther away travel at about the speed of a commercial airplane and could take hours to reach local beaches, officials said. To prepare for those tsunamis, a staging area would be set up in Palisades Park near the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier. Residents and visitors would be directed several miles inland, most likely to the large parks in eastern Santa Monica, Weinberg said. Evacuating the coast costs an estimated $1 million a mile, Alexander added. “It’s not something that you want to do unless you’re pretty sure,” he said. “However, you have to always think, ‘safety first’ and use precaution.” It is tsunamis from larger earthquakes that often receive the most attention. However, Alexander said 98 percent of the deaths and injuries caused by tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean since 1960 were from the “local” tsunamis, which accounted for some 4,200 casualties. THE TSUNAMI OF 1930 Talk of tsunami dangers in the Santa Monica Bay followed a Sunday earthquake off the island country of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean that claimed tens of thousands of lives. That tsunami is expected to teach scientists a great deal about earthquakes and the behavior of tsunamis. Video footage shot as the tsunami hit beaches was unprecedented and will help explain many unknowns about the dangerous and powerful natural phenomenon, said Alexander, adding the tragedy also likely will funnel government dollars into tsunami research and preparedness. “Tsunamis are really a new science,” he added. “Not a lot is known about them, because there’s not a lot of recorded history. There’s been no money, there’s been very little attention towards tsunamis. Now, hopefully, that will change. It’s so far and few between that you have to triage, I think, your priorities. We haven’t had one here in Santa Monica since the 1930s.” The tsunami that hit the Santa Monica Bay on Aug. 31, 1930 was triggered by a 5.2-magnitude earthquake. It produced waves measuring nearly 10 feet high, and led to one drowning and more than a dozen injuries, according to the “West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center” Web site, managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the National Weather Service. Santa Monica Fire Department Chief Jim Hone, whose department is responsible for all of the city’s emergency response, said a major tsunami was unlikely to hit Santa Monica. “We’ve looked at our potential maximum impact, based on information from scientists around here, and we have put together what we believe to be feasible contingency plans for what we see as the remote possibility of that happening in our area,” he said Tuesday. While disaster relief efforts proceed in affected countries and tsunami research continues around the world, Weinberg said the tragedy should serve as a reminder to always keep a stock of key necessities. “It re-emphasizes the need to be prepared, to have three days of food and water,” he said. “While the tsunami caused a lot of destruction, the affected regions in the Indian Ocean are going through a difficult recovery process right now, and a lot of it is because people are without food, water, shelter. “We can’t prevent the disaster, but we can really help with the recovery,” Weinberg added. “Being in charge of emergency preparedness, to me it’s just a wake-up call. It makes me say, ‘Great. It’s another opportunity to stress being prepared.’” Other officials emphasized that uncertainty was the only certainty. “The sirens no longer work, the ones that originally were put out there for bomb threats,” City Councilman Bob Holbrook said. “There’s no question: If a tidal wave or tsunami came across the beach, there would be a huge devastation and tragedy. We’re not prepared... I can’t imagine anywhere that really is.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/122904-02_01-7.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/122904-02_02-7.jpg) The recent storm caused a large puddle to form on Interstate 10, forcing CalTrans to shut down one lane of traffic just east of the Pacific Coast Highway tunnel Tuesday morning. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 29, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)