The Raging Sea: the Powerful Account of the Worst Tsunami in U.S History is written by Dennis M. Powers. In 1964, on Good Friday, an earthquake struck near the Gulf of Alaska creating a tidal wave. Dennis recalls the event happening while he was a senior at the University of Colorado; he read the stories about the tsunami cruising down the U.S West coast in newspapers. Reading the stories he questioned what really happened and how anyone could survive that raging ocean. It wasn’t until later in his life when a friend of his suggested him to go and discover the story himself. Powers interviewed a few survivors who were caught in the wave, bystanders, and authorities. He felt that a story of a tsunami that wiped out the Western United States coastline was a privilege to write and that it is a learning experience for everyone, even those who weren’t affected by it.
The earth has pates that are underwater which are continuously moving very slowly in different directions. An earthquake happens when tension builds up between two plates and the plates grind and scrape against one another. Once this pressure is released it will either move the plates horizontal or vertical. Vertical movement in a large body of water will cause a large amount of water to move, creating a tidal wave. The waves will continue until the body of water finds its equilibrium, sometimes going around the earth more than once.
This 8.4 magnitude earthquake occurred around 7:30 P.M. U.S. Pacific standard time, about a third of the way up the Alaskan coastline. It shook for over three minutes, destroyed the town of Anchorage, and created a tidal wave. The tidal wave headed right down the U.S Western coastline, first hitting Washington, Oregon, then California. Tidal waves are hard to predict because there are many factors: speed, direction, the epicenter, coastline structure and sea level, underwater plan (valleys and hills), and a few more. Sometimes one town will get destroyed, but the next town down won’t get hit at all. In 1964 the only tsunami warning center, in the Pacific Ocean, was located in Hawaii, which did put out a watch or warning in time. Crescent City, only having 3,000 residents at the time, was hit the hardest.
Powers starts off explaining what a tsunami is and how one is created. Then introduces other tsunamis that have happened in the past: some more destructive, others less, some in the U.S and others across the world. He looks at each one and their location, magnitude, time of day, preparation, and damage; a few comparisons to those and this 1964 tsunami were found. It is the Friday before Easter Sunday, sunny and warm; some families were traveling for the weekend while others were preparing for a relaxing weekend at home. Some examples Powers informs the reader were: a family went hiking at a state park in Oregon, four kids, also in Oregon, camped out on the beach with their dog, two grandparents with their grandkids stayed at a beach cottage in Washington, and in Crescent City some were going to the bars, on a date, or out to the movies. Many unaware an earthquake has even happened or the possibility of a tidal wave.
In Crescent City when the watch for the tsunami was put out, the authorities gathered and set out a plan only if the conditions worsen. There have been many false alarms in the past which had authorities hesitating to evacuate the community. Ten minutes before midnight a warning was set out and authorities started to knock on doors. They targeted those that were close to the shore first. They wanted to warn the household that a tsunami warning was in effect. While doing this the first wave struck. The second wave came a little after. Because neither waves were very destructive, people in the town thought that it was over and just another false alarm. Some residents walked down to the shore to see what damage was done and business owners went to check on the damage done to their stores. Most stores were a few blocks from shore and had a couple of feet of water damage, but nothing they haven’t seen before. While they examined the mess of those waves, a third and forth bigger wave hit, creating a disaster. It covered thirty city blocks, killed 11 people, and destroyed or damaged 289 homes and businesses.
Powers did a good job explaining what was going on before the tsunami hit, each wave and the impact it left, and the after mass. He incorporates stories from survivors, whether they just watched safely in their house or were fighting for their lives in the waves. One of the most impacting, horrific, and sad story Powers retells was with the survivor Wally Griffin. Wally had to fight for his life more than one time and lost his mom, dad and fiancée. He did an excellent job retelling all the stories; he made you feel like you were in their shoes and brought a tear to your eyes. He goes on to explain the restoring of the town and how it is today. Which I believe is very important because after an event like this it can bring people together or apart all depending on how the situation is taken care of. After time passes, people move on and some forget the importance of event.
In the end, Powers describes how different this could have been if it had happened today and/or in a different location, like Los Anglos. He shows pictures that locals had of the area during the time of the event and a few that were of different tsunami disaster over the world. After this disaster there has been better structures put up, more gauges, and a tsunami warning center in Alaska.
There were many things that I enjoyed while reading this book. One is that Powers does an excellent job putting the stories together, for example during one story a man was fighting for this life while the third floated the area, he hung onto a telephone pole. He continued with his next story with Wally Griffin rescuing a man holding onto a telephone pole. Another thing I liked is how detailed the stories and scenes were. Lastly Powers does a good job of teaching the warning signs of a tsunami and what to do if one occurs. Even though I live in the Midwest it is still a good idea to know the basic warnings of all hazards because there could come a time in my life (moving or traveling) that I am in a situation.
There were a few things that I did not like about this book. One being that Powers repeated himself a lot, for example in one of the beginning chapters he lets the readers know what people are doing than a couple of chapters later as the tsunami is hitting towns along the coast he repeats it again. The other thing that I didn’t like about this book was the introduction; Powers did not do a good job grabbing my attention.
Overall I think this book was a good book because it happened close to home (in the U.S. where I am from), the impacting stories, and the learning experience. No matter how many false alarms, if a tsunami watch is in affect everyone needs to be prepared, keep an eye out for the warning signs, and follow procedures. This event needs to be a reminder that it can happen at any point of time and nature is capable of repeating itself.
