10 Huge Disaster Movies That Scientists Called Bullsh*t (And Why)
10. There Could Never Be A Tsunami In San Francisco - San Andreas (2015)
The Disaster: After the notorious fault-line that spans 1300km through California finally gives, the state is thrown into chaos. As a magnitude 9 earthquake rips the Golden State in two, a hero helicopter pilot sets off to rescue his estranged wife and their stranded daughter, unaware of where they are or that the quake was just the beginning. As experts in the field attempt to warn the panicking public that they are still in grave danger, a giant tsunami crashes into the west coast and washes away everything in its path. Why Its Bullshit: California was built over a large fault-line, and earthquakes as high as 7.8 in magnitude have struck before, though would a quake be capable of creating a giant tsunami? In short, no. As the San Andreas fault is mainly above water, activity there would never create a giant tsunami, no matter the magnitude. Even if it were underwater, the fault itself is actually vertical, and so the colliding of tectonic plates here would not deform the sea floor the reason that tsunamis are formed. Even if it were possible for the San Andreas fault to create a tsunami, the one that hits Cali in the movie is impossibly big. A large tsunami can be as tall as 50 feet, though the one in the movie manages to wash cars straight off the Golden Gate Bridge roadway, which stands at a height of 270 feet. They simply cannot be bigger than the ocean is deep, and not even The Rock would be able to surf one, as a tsunami is not a cresting wave but a rising wall of water.
