Tsunami preparedness on the East Coast | 02.05.2007 | 06:44:57 | Views: 5898 | ID: February 5 '07: The National Weather Service has begun a tsunami preparedness program for communities on the East Coast, the Associated Press reported. In all, about nine local communities which have been licensed as tsunami-prepared, are participating in the program which was begun after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed more than 200,000 people. Other cities and counties certified include Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.; Onslow County, N.C.; Norfolk, Va.; and five counties in South Carolina including Charleston County, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach, the AP reported. Supervising the preparedness program is the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. Participation in the program is completely voluntary. There is no additional training other than information about tsunamis for emergency managers, and maps containing flood-vulnerable areas is being provided. Since 1886 "seven tsunamis have been recorded in the Atlantic and Gulf Coast states," the AP reported. "Geologists say an Atlantic Coast tsunami could be triggered by the breaking of old fault lines offshore or by inland earthquakes causing an undersea landslide of sediments piled where the shallow continental shelf drops sharply into the ocean," the AP continued.
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