184 OCEANOGRAPHY 



and yet, there was a note in the paper that admitted they had been 

 warned but, because they did not know that the wave did a lot 

 of damage in Honolulu, they did not take it too seriously. That, to 

 me, is a lot of hooey, because the Japanese have a very capable group 

 of seismologists in their comitry who study earthquakes. They had 

 complete warning and somebody muffed, in my estimation. 



Furthermore, our military and CAA and Weather Bureau send 

 these notices to the islands. Certainly the military notified the mili- 

 taiy in Japan, because we have ships over there. 



Mr. Miller. Mr. Bauer. 



Mr. Bauer. Captain Earle. would you mind distinguishing for the 

 committee and the record the dili'erence between a catastrophe of this 

 type and the seiche that occurred with no warnmg at Lituya Bay 

 and created the loss of the three sliips ^ 



Captain Earle. Yes. You see, Lituya Bay was close to the focal 

 point of that eartliquake. In other words, the earthquake was in 

 southeast Alaska, thus there was no time for any warning. 



Thei'e are various ideas on how that wave occurred. We know there 

 was a glacier and a huge cliff' at one end of that bay and we know 

 that many tliousand tons of material dropped into this small, narrow 

 bay. This probably created the seiche that surged down the bay 

 and swept those fishing ^^e^sels over the bar. This did not create a 

 tsunami or tidal wave. This wave was caused when a vast amount of 

 material dropped from the heights of the glacier into the bay. 



Mr. Bauer. In other words, any warning method that you have 

 available must of necessity be somewhat remote from the epicenter? 



Captain Earle. Absolutely, sir. There would be no warning of 

 this event because it did not create a tsunami. That was just a seiche 

 and it dissipated in the sea. Any earthquake in ocean areas could 

 create a tsmiami but few of them do. We cannot put out too many 

 warnings because it is crying "wolf." However, we have never 

 missed on a warning. 



Mr. Miller. AVhat do you have in the Atlantic? Have you ever 

 had any tsunamis in the Atlantic? You have had some powerful 

 earthquakes over here. 



Captain Earle. We have had powerful earthquakes years ago but, 

 as far as I know, there were no tsunamis in tlie Atlantic. Of course, 

 the one in Charleston. S.C., in the 1800's, was a major earthquake but 

 whetlier it was near enough to the coast to create any surge at sea, I 

 cannot answei?. 



Mr. Miller. Do the Azores ever shake ? 



Captain Earle. There are quite a few earthquakes in the Azores. 

 That is a seismic belt. However, the most active seismic belt in the 

 world is that rim of the Pacific and most tsunamis occur there. 



Right from South America, you go through the State of California 

 to the Aleutians and Japan and on down through the East Indies. It 

 is a very active seism.ic zone. 



Mr. Miller. This is the zone that is surrounded by a group of 

 volcanoes. 



Captain Earle. Yes, sir. Of course, there is some connection. We 

 do not think there is a connection in this case but an earthqualve can 

 be started by volcanic action. 



Mr. Miller. As far as you know, now, how was the comparison of 

 damage done at Hilo by this one and the one in 1946 ? I happened to 



