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The Science Seminar Series: January 27, 2005
The Threat of Tsunami within the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Ocean Basins: Can it happen here?
Clinton I. Barineau
Department of Physics, Astronomy, and GeosciencesValdosta State University
Valdosta, GA, 31698
Room 1011 Biology/Chemistry BuildingTime: 4:00 -5:00pm
The northern Sumatra earthquake and subsequent Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26th, 2004, has drawn recent worldwide attention to the topic of tsunami risk. While the countries of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand struggle to deal with the hundreds of thousands of fatalities and millions of displaced persons following this disaster, unaffected countries have been forced to reassess their own risk to an event of this nature. Historically, the U.S. has experienced deadly tsunami mostly affecting states within the Pacific basin, especially Hawaii and Alaska. Several notable tsunamis in the past century have claimed the lives of hundreds of U.S. citizens there and those living within these areas are typically aware, though perhaps unconcerned prior to December 26th, 2004, of the threat of tsunami. While tsunami have received considerable attention along the West Coast of North America, much of the U.S. public was surprised to learn in media reports of potential tsunami risks along the East and Gulf Coast of North America, where most assumed the risk of this type of disaster to be zero. Like the Pacific, the Atlantic and Caribbean basins are susceptible to tsunami generated by earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and extraterrestrial impacts.