ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The powerful earthquake that struck in Northern California on Thursday prompted a brief tsunami warning affecting about 5 million people along a stretch of the West Coast — from Northern California to Oregon — before being canceled. Here are some things to know about tsunamis:
What is a tsunami?
A tsunami, a word that comes from the Japanese characters for harbor and wave, is a series of extremely long waves caused by the sudden displacement of the ocean, according to the National Weather Service.
“Most tsunamis, and the largest, result from earthquakes on reverse faults. These tsunami-generating earthquakes originate mainly in subduction zones, where tectonic plates collide and
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