OCEANOGRAPHY 185 



be in Honolulu 2 days afte^^A'ard. We flew down and took a look at 

 Hilo. It was pretty well laid low. 



Captain Earle. Well, the only thing I have on that — and we have 

 no direct report, Mr. Chairman — is that possibly it was as large. The 

 newspaper reports are the only thing I know. In 1952 a major 

 tsunami hit Hilo with no loss of life but there was damage on the 

 waterfront. 



Mr. Miller. They still want to build right on the water. 



Captain Earle. You see, gentlemen, this tsmiami is a pressure 

 wave just pushing forward. In deep water it may create a wave of 

 only a foot in height. Hilo is on a funnel-like trough so that, as this 

 pressure pushes, it pushes the water up this fmmel. The sloping 

 shelf and contour of the land make Hilo very vulnerable. 



^Ir. Miller. Mr. Dorn ? 



Mr. Dorn. I have no questions. 



Mr. Miller. Mr.Pelly? 



Mr. Pellt. You do not have any information as to the effect tliat 

 this particular wave had on southern California — for example. Long 

 Beach ? I know that there has been a sinking there and I have always 

 heard that a large wave might cause a lot of damage to our naval 

 installations there at Long Beach. 



I wondered if they had anything like that. 



Captain Earle. Xo, sir. I have seen reports that they did have 

 something like a 6-foot wave liit along the California coast as a result 

 of tliis earthquake. It was a seismic sea wave that hit through there 

 but I think it only broke the moorings of small boats and disrupted 

 things a little bit without causing appreciable damage. 



Mr. Pellt. I am thinking of the flooding of a low area which is 

 protected, as I understand, by a dike. That could be quite serious. 



Captain Earle. It could, sir, but I do not think the height of the 

 wave that hit there would be comparable to waves from some of the 

 major storms that came up the coast. 



]Mr. Miller. "\\'ould the gentleman yield ? 



Mr. Pellt. Yes. 



Mr. ]MiLLER. Of course, if this tsunami came along at a high tide, 

 it would do a lot more damage than if it hit at a low tide. If it hit 

 at a low tide along that coast a 6-foot wave would not be very high 

 but the damage at a high tide would be much more. 



Captain Earle. When you have your spring tides your water level 

 is so much higher that the force of a tsunami would push water fur- 

 ther inland. I guess you gentlemen are all acquainted with the wave 

 of 1916 which was over 100 feet in height and wiped out Scotch Cap 

 Light which was, I think, 86 feet above sea level. I think it occurred 

 at a high tide. Of course, the earthquake that generated that 

 tsunami occurred verv^ close to the area of the light. 



Mr. ]\IiLLER. :Mr. Ciirtin ? 



Mr. CuRTix. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. 



Do these tidal waves always proceed at relatively the same speed, 

 or are they influenced by the severity of the earthquake? 



Captain Earle. They always proceed at the same speed. How- 

 ever, the speed of a tidal wave is related to the depth of the water. 

 At gi^eat depths, it is 400 to 500 miles per hour. The chart which I 

 gave you, which is a travel time curve, is figured on the basis of depth 



