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KF5JRV > TODAY 01.04.24 10:01l 39 Lines 2433 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 19483_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Apr 01
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<GB7CIP<N2NOV<K5DAT<KF5JRV
Sent: 240401/0834Z 19483@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.23
On April 1, 1946, an undersea earthquake off the Alaskan coast triggers a massive tsunami that kills 159 people in Hawaii.
In the middle of the night, 13,000 feet beneath the ocean surface, a 8.6-magnitude tremor was recorded in the North Pacific. (T
he nearest land was Unimak Island, part of the Aleutian chain.) The quake triggered devastating tidal waves throughout the Paci
fic, particularly in Hawaii.
Unimak Island was hit by the tsunami shortly after the quake. An enormous wave estimated at nearly 100 feet high crashed onto t
he shore. A lighthouse located 30 feet above sea level, where five people lived, was smashed to pieces by the wave; all five we
re killed instantly. Meanwhile, the wave was heading toward the southern Pacific at 500 miles per hour.
A shattered road after an earthquake.
In Hawaii, 2,400 miles south of the quake’s epicenter, Captain Wickland of the United States Navy was the first to spot the com
ing wave at about 7 a.m., four-and-a-half hours after the quake. His position on the bridge of a ship, 46 feet above sea level,
put him at eye level with a “monster waveö that he described as two miles long.
As the first wave came in and receded, the water in Hawaii’s Hilo Bay seemed to disappear. Boats were left on the sea floor nex
t to flopping fish. Then, the massive tsunami struck. In the city of Hilo, a 32-foot wave devastated the town, completely destr
oying almost a third of the city. The bridge crossing the Wailuku River was picked up by the wave and pushed 300 feet away. In
Hilo, 96 people lost their lives.
On other parts of the island of Hawaii, waves reached as high as 60 feet. A schoolhouse in Laupahoehoe was crushed by the tsuna
mi, killing the teacher and 25 students inside. The massive wave was seen as far away as Chile, where, 18 hours after the quake
near Alaska, unusually large waves crashed ashore. There were no casualties.
This tsunami prompted the U.S. to establish the Seismic SeaWave Warning System two years later. The system, now known as the Pa
cific Tsunami Warning System, uses undersea buoys throughout the ocean, in combination with seismic-activity detectors, to find
possible killer waves. The warning system was used for the first time on November 4, 1952. That day, an evacuation was success
fully carried out, but the expected wave never materialized.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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