Flutterby™! : Tsunami

Y'all know that a big earthquake and huge tsunami hit Japan today. Aside from the massive destruction and at least hundreds killed, there are safety concerns at a nuclear power plant.

And, of course, those of us who live on the West Coast made conscious decisions about where we were going to be today. this summary of damage along the coast says:

Near the mouth of the Klamath River, three friends who had gathered to take photos were swept into the ocean. Two of the men made it back to shore, but the Coast Guard is using helicopters to help search for the third man.

What part of "tsunami"...?

A cool picture of what the wave looked like as it came ashore in Emeryville, and from the comments in that thread a video from a guy on the beach in Alameda videoing the draw-down ("I'm gonna run now") and video of the wave sweeping ashore from a high vantage point. Nothing like the devastation in Japan, but worth a little respect nonetheless.

And I want to get some further clarification on what this means, but the Vancouver Sun reports that the Japan coast shifted 2.4 meters and the earth's axis moved by inches. I wonder if our local resident favorite geographer would care to weigh in with a few words on what that sort of shift means for location...