Tswassen and Southern Gulf in Danger of Earthquake

[Doug]

It's prone to hit one day, but we will never know when. The earthquake some of us (me) know as "The Big One" will quite possibly cause something catastrophic that most of us probably didn't have a clue about. The quake that is going to hit is going to be huge, bigger than the one that hit San Francisco in the '80s and a lot more damaging.

When it hits, they say that the Fraser River Delta and area will collapse, cause a landslide. Worse, the landslide is going to send a wave ranging from eight to 18 meters high and over a kilometer in width over to the the Gulf Islands at jet speeds. They say within 300 seconds (five minutes) it would have reached the Gulf Islands. There will be some after-effects of it "bouncing" off and coming back to the mainland, but I am unsure of how big that one will be. We all know that the Tsawwassen Terminal is sitting on a dropoff, probably dropping over 100 meters. I'm not saying it will happen, but what we know now as Tsawwassen Terminal could look like it no longer existed when this earthquake hits. What I'm coming to is that the whole island at Tsawwassen (and Roberts Bank Port) could collapse right into the Strait. And if it doesn't, it will certainly recieve damage from the wave. Looking at the video provided by Daily Planet, it looks like the waves origin will be right around the Roberts Bank Superport. Any ferry sailing on Tsawwassen-Duke Point will likely be swamped along with the wave (if it is up to 18 meters). They have created a model of how it will happen at the following link: www.exn.ca/video/?video=exn20050111-miller.asx . I would also assume that the entire municipality of Delta and Richmond will be flooded.

What do you guys think?

[Queen of The North]

Yes, very scary stuff indeed to think about. I would not want to live in any of the low lying areas or be anywhere near them at that time. But we never know when it will happen.

But if I am to die this way, I might as well be stuck in the elevator on the Queen of Alberni as I love been on the ferries and I would rather "Go Down with the ship" then to be swamped by some big wave at shore.

You think the 150, 000 death toll for the Asia Tsuami is bad? Well I think Richmond alone has this many people, Not to mention Downtown Vancouver, and Roberts Bank area including Tswn terminal and Delta Port. Also West Vancouver's beach area. If the wave gets into Burrard Inlet then you have North Van, Port Moody, etc to Factor in. ITs very scary to think about. We must be prepared.

[Ferryman]

Geez just so happens that we live where the biggest tidal wave hazard is.

[Koastal Karl]

The video doesent work. Nothing happens. I think I have seen it before on discovery channel.

[Balfour]

This would all be terrible. I hope we start to get a few small earthquakes because that would relieve pressure off the subduction zone where the epicenter will likely be. I don't mean to scare you guys but the longer we go without seismic activity, the bigger the "Big One" will be.

[cascade]

Do any of you remember the tidal wave we had in the 70's that hit Port Alberni - caused by the Yanks blowning up a devise of some sort - way up in Alaska?

The "small" wave was caused by an underground slide - very deep in the ocean - some thing like - BUT - on a much smaller scale than what happen in the Far East a month ago?