Media Advisory: Cascadia Quake and Orphan Tsunami — Public Lecture

Posted: 27 Jul 2015 10:00 AM PDT

Summary: One winter's night in the year 1700, a mysterious tsunami flooded fields and washed away houses in Japan. It arrived without the warning that a nearby earthquake usually provides

Contact Information:

Leslie Gordon ( Phone: 650-329-4006 );

MENLO PARK, Calif. — One winter's night in the year 1700, a mysterious tsunami flooded fields and washed away houses in Japan. It arrived without the warning that a nearby earthquake usually provides. Samurai, merchants and villagers wrote of the event, but nearly three centuries would pass before geological discoveries linked the tsunami to the subduction zone that runs along the Pacific coast of southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northern California. Today, this Trans-Pacific detective story guides preparations for future earthquakes and tsunamis in North America's Cascadia region.

What:	Illustrated presentation: "The Giant Cascadia Earthquake of January 26, 1700: Detective Stories from North America and Japan"
Who:	Brian Atwater, USGS geologist
When:	Thursday, July 30, 2015 12:00 p.m. — Lecture preview for USGS employees and news media representatives 7:00 p.m.— Public lecture open to all (Both presentations will be live-streamed online, and archived for later viewing.)
Where:	U.S. Geological Survey Rambo Auditorium, Bldg. 3, 2^nd floor 345 Middlefield Road Menlo Park, Calif.
Book:	The Orphan Tsunami of 1700—Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America