7.0 earthquake prompts O.C. tsunami alert

Andrew Edwards

A tsunami warning along the West Coast came and went Tuesday night,

giving emergency responders a chance to prepare for a disaster that

did not come.

“We geared up like we would like we would for any disaster and

were prepared to take action,” Newport Beach Fire Department

Battalion Chief Dave Mais said.

Neither Mais nor Newport Beach Police Lt. Jim Kaminsky said they

could recall a previous tsunami warning in Newport Beach. The

departments’ disaster training programs include preparation for

tsunamis, they said.

“We train for situations like this all the time,” Mais said.

“That’s the business we’re in.”

Soon after the tsunami warning was issued, lifeguards were ordered

to evacuate Newport’s beaches and piers, Mais said. Police managed

traffic as some people voluntarily evacuated.

“We did get some people leaving, but it was not a logjam or

anything,” Kaminsky said.

The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for the West

Coast following an earthquake off the northern California coast. The

U.S. Geological Survey reported the 7.0-magnitude quake happened at

6:50 p.m. with an epicenter 91 miles west-southwest of Crescent City.

The tsunami warning, issued around 8 p.m., was called off at 9:09

p.m.

Kaminsky said he called Mais to begin preparations for a possible

tsunami as soon as he heard about the earthquake.

“As I was calling him he was picking up the phone to call me,”

Kaminsky said.

Police dispatchers estimated they handled about 400 calls related

to the warning, Kaminsky said. Mais said some people came to the two

fire stations on the Balboa Peninsula to seek advice.

“A few people were packing their belongings,” Mais said.

In events like a tsunami warning, people concerned about a

possible disaster do not need to call 911 or public safety agencies

to get information, Sgt. Jim Whitman of the Orange County Sheriff’s

Harbor Patrol said. Whitman said public safety agencies have the same

information available on news broadcasts. He advised people to pay

attention to news updates, and if a tsunami ever looks likely, head

to higher ground.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District board and the Newport

Beach City Council canceled meetings Tuesday after the tsunami

warning was issued. Newport Beach resident Joy Brenner attended the

meeting despite hearing the alert on her way to City Hall. She was

more concerned about an issue scheduled for the meeting than a

potential disaster.

“I was more worried about my property rights being eroded,” she

said.

Like Brenner, diners at 21 Oceanfront Restaurant on the Balboa

Peninsula were not frightened by the warning.

“They just decided to have extra drinks,” general manager Mark

Lamb said.

-- Daily Pilot staff writers Alicia Robinson and Michael Miller

contributed to this report.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.