Fifteen minutes before 11 a.m. on Thursday, untold numbers of Californian cellphones buzzed. It was an alert from the National Weather Service issued up the Northern Californian coast to parts of Oregon. The message: “You are in danger.”
“A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you,” the tsunami warning read. “Get away from coastal waters.”
Nearly 5.3 million people received the message. LPC geography professor Alemayehu Lirenso said of locals and their cellular devices, “Everyone was buzzing.”
Caution was rescinded just before noon.
On Dec. 5, the 2024 Offshore Cape Mendocino earthquake was detected in the waters surrounding Humboldt County. Its primary seismic wave had a nucleus 10 miles southwest of Scotia.
Initially reported at 10:44 a.m. as having a 6.6 magnitude, the quake was quickly upgraded to a seismic 7.0. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a magnitude of 7.0 is roughly equivalent to the energy produced by Little Boy — the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
But damage in Humboldt Co. was relatively minimal. Roads cracked in Rio Dell. One middle school experienced a gas leak. California Sen. Mike McGuire tweeted that around 10,000 residents of the affected region lost power. No injuries have been reported.
Lirenso hypothesized that underwater rock formations surrounding the epicenter absorbed the shocks. “That’s why we didn’t get the tsunami affecting coastal areas” or much damage otherwise, he said.
Lirenso’s neighboring department is well equipped for Richter scale-requiring events.
In October of last year, geology lab technician Marisa Pascal proposed a new addition to LPC’s scientific instruments: a seismograph. She pitched the device via the school’s Instructional Equipment Request form.
“LPC resides in a seismically active region,” Pascal wrote. “Installation of a seismograph on campus gives the students opportunities to learn about the area’s seismic activity.”
Las Positas approved the $1,460.78 project. Today, the college accommodates two Raspberry Shake-brand seismographs. One quake-measurer is one-dimensional, vertical and designated for in-class use. The other is 4D and permanently installed in a secure location in the Collier Canyon hills behind campus.
The figures and numbers both seismographs produce are added to a global network of earthquake data. LPC’s station is one of roughly 2,000 international Raspberry sensors.
Pascal’s successful proposal concluded, “LPC can play a vital role in contributing to the global knowledge of seismic events.”
Top photo: More than five million people received a tsunami warning after this earthquake off the coast of California near Eureka. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey)
Sabrina Hossain is the Social Media Editor for The Express. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @WritersBlock678.
