Fifty years ago today, a cataclysmic earthquake struck Alaska, triggering a giant tsunami that swamped Crescent City, more than 1,000 miles away. A dozen people died and almost 300 buildings were destroyed by the 20-foot wave.
Tsunamis hit Crescent City again in 2005, 2006 and 2011, with just one person killed. Credit an increasingly sophisticated system that uses ocean-based sensors to detect tsunamis and warn people in coastal areas to move to higher ground.
Even a brief notice can save lives. When the siren sounded in Crescent City after a large quake in nearby Humboldt County in 2005, authorities evacuated 4,000 people in about 20 minutes.
A more common threat in California is earthquakes, and an early alert system is beginning to take shape.
While tsunami warnings sometimes provide several hours to prepare, a quake alert may arrive just a few seconds, perhaps a minute, before the ground starts shaking. That isn't enough time to evacuate a city, but it may be enough for people to seek shelter, for utilities to close pipeline valves, for emergency responders to ensure that their vehicles aren't trapped in a garage.
However, unlike the tsunami warnings provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, some quake alerts may come with a price.
As described in Sunday's paper, some companies already sell quake alerts in California for as much as $2,500 a year. "Government, businesses and consumers already pay for services they deem valuable," George E. Dickinson, the chairman and chief executive of Seismic Warning Systems, told the Los Angeles Times.
In 2013, the state Legislature authorized a public quake-warning system, with a caveat: No general fund money can be used to develop it.
The estimated cost of the public system is about $80 million to install a network of ground sensors, plus $20 million a year for operations. As we noted in an earlier editorial, that's a relative pittance compared to the $6 billion in damage wrought by the 1989 Loma Prieta quake or the $13 billion in losses caused by the 1994 Northridge quake.
A warning wouldn't prevent property damage, but it could save lives, facilitate emergency responses and reduce the risk of gas leaks and other ancillary damage. In some communities, the private alerts already trigger automatic responses, such as opening the bay doors at fire stations.
The government agencies and universities working on the public system envision alerts delivered via smartphones and the Internet, which also could be used to trigger automatic actions.
Still unresolved is whether there will be a public system and a separate fee-based system. There's probably room for both, but policymakers ought to assess whether investing in a public system capable of providing advance warning needed by emergency responders, hospitals and utilities would pay for itself in savings on fees paid for private alert services.
On Wednesday, Sonoma County and state first-responders conducted a test of tsunami warning and response systems. We'll all benefit if, one day soon, there's a similar test of an earthquake alert and response system.
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