Signs of Danger
13 July 2022
• Puerto Apoya, Santa Cruz Galapagos
by robin
Life on active volcanos built in the middle of the Pacific has risks. Many are explained in the roadside pictoral signs. Close the El Junco, the freshwater filled was marked by a cheery looking volcano looking a little surprised as it erupted. The steep inclines of the Isabela lava flows were marked with a bicyclist heading towards with rocks with a saint-like halo surrounding his bare head. The most common Galapagos sign is for a tsunami. Every 100m, each road has a picture of a person running from a wave. Beside the person is and arrow indicating the safe direction to move, the name of the safe location and the distance to the safe haven.
The tsunami from the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011 was devastating in Japan and the energy reached across the Pacific. Here tour boats were sent to sea while residents, pets and tortoises include the Lonesome George moved to the highlands. While the evacuated were safe, the tsunami ruined the beachfront labs of the Darwin research station strewing dive tanks around the bay we are anchoring in. Depending on who you ask the waves were 12-15 feet above normal.
Tsunamis occur when an earthquake, landslide or volcanic suddenly puts a lot of energy into the ocean. Not all earthquakes cause tsunamis but when they do the energy travels fast, ~500 miles per hour, or the speed of a jet, the waves are small at sea but grow when they reach shorelines. The Tohoku tsunami resulted from an almost 200 mile long piece of ocean floor suddenly moving and arrived 17 hours in the Galapagos. 17 hours was plenty of time to prepare. Worrisome is a closer tsunami from west coast of South America with less time to prepare. Residents of Isabela remember the tsunami from the 1960 Chile earthquake swamping the cargo left on the normally dry sandy beach and filling the saltwater lagoon where we watched flamingos quietly eating.
A risk clause exists in the Ecaqudorian constitution and the signs along the roads, sirens we hear tested weekly and detailed evacuation plans are in place. Twice since 2011, the system has been tested. Once for a Chile earthquake and again for the Tonga eruption this year. Neither were as large as Tohoku but the system worked. NOAA, the federal agency the make the charts we depend on to sail safely, also has a tsunami prediction system that shows how the energy moves around the globe. Life on he coasts is not simple whether it is a tsunami or slower but permanent sea level rise.
Working towards tidying up the details to sail for 24 days straight. The passage will be different, downwind instead of upwind. More rolling and less banging into waves. Somewhat hampered by strikes including the water taxi but we were able to use the kayaks.
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