The U.S. region most vulnerable to tsunami — the massive waves unleashed by undersea earthquakes — is dangerously underprepared, experts and officials in Oregon and Washington state said after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake this week.
The quake that struck in the Gulf of Alaska late Monday, triggering a tsunami warning for Alaska and a tsunami watch for the U.S. West Coast, rekindled concerns that a seismic sea wave along the Northwest coast could kill, injure or displace tens of thousands of people and cause billions of dollars in damage.
In this week's quake, the warnings and watches were quickly lifted, and there was no damage from the slight change it caused in the ocean.
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