CORVALLIS, Ore., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Researchers in Oregon plan to drown a tiny town of their creation to measure the effects of a tsunami on real seaside communities.
Oregon State University in Corvallis has the nation's most sophisticated tsunami research center with a 50-yard-long Tsunami Wave Basin completed with $5 million from the National Science Foundation, The Oregonian reported Sunday.
The $170,000 Seaside project has recreated the town of Seaside, Ore., complete with homes, businesses, streets and schools. The miniature model will be flooded repeatedly this fall and winter to determine what would happen if a 35-foot-high tsunami hit Seaside, the newspaper reported.
Researchers want to know how water channels through the town and how much force it has to move debris and damage cars and buildings. The study also could determine evacuation routes.
Evidence suggests major quakes have occurred about 20 times along the Oregon coastline in the last 10,000 years, the last one striking 300 years ago.
