 "Photo: Grant Scott Goforth")
 "Photo: Grant Scott Goforth")
Thirty minutes before the tsunami was supposed to hit, cars parked on the bluffs behind the Trinidad Head Lighthouse. People set up lawn chairs and picnics and squeezed in for the best view of the shore. The ironic side effect of the tsunami alert system was apparent; people flocked to the coast, rather than away from it.
A magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Maule, Chile on Saturday and left parts of the country in devastation. Unlike the earthquake in Haiti, the Chilean earthquake resulted in tsunami warnings and evacuations all across countries in the Pacific Ocean.
The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami advisory, which is less severe than a tsunami warning, for the West Coast. It was predicted to hit the North Coast at 1:30 pm, 15 hours after the earthquake. Dozens of people flocked to the shore hoping to see the wave that traveled across the Pacific Ocean.
The sun shone over the calm waters of Trinidad harbor. A slight swell occasionally rung the bell on a buoy. Hundreds of yards offshore, the water turned a murky brown from sediment stirred up by the past few days of rain.
Emergency crews blocked roads to the beach. A Trinidad animal control officer prevented people from entering the state park. He said the tsunami warning siren had gone off earlier in the morning. Tibora Girczyc-Blum, an Arcata resident who had planned to enjoy the sun at the beach, was turned away by the roadblocks. Settling for a higher perch, she didn’t seem put out. “It’s nice just to look at the ocean.”
Sean Wilson, a firefighter stationed in Trinidad, said extra precautions were taken due to the amount of tourists and the warm weather. He said, “Keeping people off the beaches on a nice day is hard to do.”
Brian Shiro of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the alert system went well. “Overall everything ran smoothly. It was a great end-to-end test of the system.” The first Pacific-wide tsunami since 1964 helped the agency tweak and enhance the system on a broad scale.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that waves generated by the earthquake killed four people on Robinson Crusoe Island, 410 miles off the coast of Chile. Elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean, the effects were less pronounced.
Along the Humboldt coast, the tsunami heightened swells by about one foot and increased wave frequency. Wilson watched from the entrance of the harbor parking lot and thought he noticed a change in the swell.
From high above Trinidad Harbor, the effect was unnoticeable. What was tangible was the community of the event. Driven by curiosity, a diverse group of people stood and watched. Disappointed surfers, rescue personnel, thrill-seekers, and townspeople alike came to see the aftermath of nature’s power.
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