Tsunamis pose a risk to the entire California coast. But should a major one strike, how bad could it be?
A single tsunami likely won’t cause the worst-case scenario for every region. But in total, more than 680,000 Californians are in a tsunami hazard area during the daytime. And in all, $12.6 billion in damage is possible across California’s 20 coastal and bayside counties – a figure that doesn’t include damage to ports, harbors, roads, essential facilities or other infrastructure.
There are two main types of scenarios for a tsunami. The first, a “distant-source” tsunami, comes from far away, like one spawned by a major earthquake in Alaska. That would provide an extensive warning – six hours for L.A. and five hours for San Francisco – but could produce the highest level of inundation for large swaths of the state…