East Coast Tsunami: Can it happen here?

CHICOPEE, Mass. (MAss Appeal) - We have seen the videos over and over. What happened in Japan is tragic, and we can't help but ask... can it happen here? 22News Storm Team Meteorologist Ashley Baylor joins us in the studio to answer those questions.

People don't realize how many of earthquakes actually happen a day. A lot of them happen well below the Earth's surface to the point you can't feel them. Or are so minor that they are under a magnitude of one or two. You won't be able to feel it at all. Of cores, you hear about several earthquakes happening in California because several fault lines out there, you have the main one. San Andreas falls in between plate boundaries. They get quite a few small to moderate earthquakes on a weekly basis. Of course, you also have a lot of earthquakes that take place in Alaska. A lot of fall lines up there. Denali fall line. Again, near plate boundaries, but on the east coast here, you don't hear about too many.

Just in the past six months, believe it or not, the northeast had 42 earthquakes. You don't feel them. Most of them are so small, you don't feel them. Massachusetts alone, we had two of them. One on October 27 in Norwood, Massachusetts. Also one on October 29 in Beverly, Massachusetts. Just a week ago, Concord, New Hampshire had one, 1.6. You don't really feel it necessarily. So absolutely they can happen anywhere.

In the video is of what happened when the earthquake struck off the coast of Japan. Basically shows the tsunami and how far out it went over a certain span of time. The thing about tsunamis is that once again, people don't realize how fast they can travel. How high the waves can get. That water can travel in excess of 460 miles per hour.

It could travel that fast. Some of the waves, and the extreme cases have gotten over a hundred feet high. Now, it wasn't necessarily the case for Japan but that is, you know, extremity but realizing how far it can travel. You can talk about something potentially at 460 miles per hour. It is like, it is going to destroy everything that it rushes over. You see it taking cars out, buildings both.

Earthquakes here believe it or not, there have been tsunamis on the east coast. Not common whatsoever. There has only been like 3 in history here. There is an earthquake off the coast of New Finland, Canada. Tsunami waves. Far south as North Carolina. Then there was reportedly a tsunami that hit Atlantic City, New Jersey. Once right after World War I. Another one, same spot right after World War II. They can happen here. But we are not telling you to, you know, repent your sins or anything like that. It is not very likely.

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