To uncover the mystery behind an orphan tsunami that struck Japan in the year 1700, scientists initiated a study in the 1980s, I4U reported.
Without warning, the giant tsunami, which remained a mystery for three hundred years, hit the country. As it was not preceded by an earthquake, the Japanese dubbed it an orphan tsunami.
Samurai and Villagers recorded the catastrophic event. Fields were turned into an ocean and houses were washed into the sea.
According to I4U, hundreds of years after, scientists finally found the orphan's parent: the Cascadia subduction zone.
"Known as the Cascadia fault, it stretches from northern Vancouver Island to northern California. The recent 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Sunday in Eureka, California, was the result of clashing tectonic plates in the Cascadia subduction zone," I4U reported.
Previous theories that the Cascadia fault is not capable of producing strong earthquakes are now being debunked by recent studies.
The Cascadia subduction zone is a long sloping fault that separates three plates. It is an intersection of the "Juan de Fuca," "Gorda," and "North American" plates, I4U reported.
The fault has produced six quakes of magnitude 7.0 or more in the last 100 years, according to the California Geological Survey.
The two recent powerful quakes are 6.8-magnitude quake on Sunday and the 7.2-magnitude shaker in 2005.
"Scientists said that the Cascadia fault is powerful not just because of its length. It is strong because the two tectonic plates - Juan de Fuca and Gorda - are being forced into the enormous North American plate," I4U reported. "Because the North American plate is larger and stronger, it pushes back the two plates over time, snapping like a rubber band every 100 years."
"It could be today. It could be 100 years from now," said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist David Oppenheimer.
To provide earlier warnings, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are now using state-of-the-art tsunami sensors off the Oregon coast.
The sensors could reportedly track the exact size of a tsunami in as little as five minutes, I4U reported.
"Some people had a false sense of security. You want to have this information as accurate as possible," NOAA told the Los Angeles Times.
Temporary evacuations that will act as tsunami safe havens are also being planned to be built by officials. Each can accommodate 800 people, officials said.
