Checking in from Los Angeles.

First, my deepest condolences and prayers to the people of Japan who lost friends and relatives. That is very sad.

Out here in Los Angeles things are calm. None of the locals who live here are taking the tsunami risk seriously. Just another day in California. My guess is that maybe we might see a 2-foot wave. It could be actually visible this morning, but only because the sea is very calm and flat on Friday morning.

Our local media are doing their normal fear mongering. "Hidden danger in the water!!!". This actually works against them, and they cannot comprehend why nobody is listening to them. The California surfers have blown off the media entirely. Those guys are out on their surfboards in the ocean. A few foreign tourists are a bit freaked out, but the locals here are just heading off to work. The beaches are closed as a precaution, but I expect no damage of any kind from the wave.

UPDATE: Just after 8 am here. Some beaches are closed (e.g. beaches in Orange County), but other beaches are open (L.A. County beaches remain open). Good call by the L.A. County lifeguards! Based on the little helpful info that we are receiving - which came from a radio broadcast by the way, and not the local TV media - the wave should have arrived at this time. Not much activity to report. Barely visible on the beachcams, if at all - but there may be a slight time delay on the tsunami. Meanwhile, we've got local TV reporters standing on hills with TV cameras telling the public to bail out and head for high ground. Give me a break. One day this "dumbed down" journalism is going to cost some lives, because when we do have a critical emergency nobody will take these guys seriously.

other Pete


Edited by Pete (03/11/11 03:13 PM)