Our view: As we note anniversary, ponder future

As you move about Crescent City, the changes in altitude can be almost imperceptible. The slopes are gentle, but 45 years ago this morning, they made all the difference in the world.

A map on today’s front page locates the inundation zone from the fourth and biggest wave of the 1964 tsunami. It’s difficult to imagine that much water over the lowlands, especially the section that stretches north along the highway corridor almost to the fairgrounds.

Look at a map of today’s Crescent City, and you’ll see a tsunami evacuation zone that reaches up to Ninth Street, down the length of South Beach and east out Elk Valley Road all the way to where it intersects Howland Hill Road.

The evacuation zone is bigger than the ’64 inundation zone, and that’s something to keep in mind. Someday the water may come back, and it could be worse. It behooves us to be better prepared, and in many ways we already are. Our buildings are less prone to floating away and our warning systems are much more sophisticated.

That doesn’t mean we’ll have a lot of time to think about what to do. In 1964, the Alaska earthquake occurred about four hours before the first wave hit Crescent City, although the local warning came closer to one hour before the first wave. Someday, the earth will quiver much closer to home, and the resulting tsunami could occur within minutes.

If you click “on-line extras” at triplicate.com, you’ll find links to current tsunami information, a list of evacuation routes and sites that are especially vulnerable, and a list of recommended items for a “tsunami emergency kit.”

Experts recommend advance assembly of a three-day supply of survival items for every family member. Beyond that, you should talk with your loved ones about what you would do and where you would go to meet up if the ground shakes here or if another faraway earthquake prompts a tsunami warning. Don’t assume you’ll have the luxury of reaching them by cell phone in a time of crisis.

A six-part series, “The Tidal Waves of ’64,” begins today and runs through next Saturday. As you read the first-hand accounts of survivors and what the experts say about what happened that night and what could happen next time, certain lessons emerge:

• Yes, Crescent City is tsunami-prone because of the region’s topography. Consider it the downside of being situated in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

• We should never again believe that the first wave of a tsunami is the biggest. That was a fatally flawed assumption in 1964, and the foremost expert in the region says that in Crescent City, at least, subsequent waves will almost always be bigger than the first.

• No matter how cataclysmic a future earthquake/tsunami disaster is, the vast majority of us will survive it.

Sometimes there may be an inclination to think that since we live on the rugged edge of the continent and are prone to tsunamis, that we are at ground zero and would be swallowed up instantly when the “big one” occurs in the Cascadia subduction zone. The truth is, the ground may shake for a long time, the water may come in fast and furious, but we’ll still be alive and kicking and dealing with the aftermath.

We need to be ready.