Santa Cruz Harbor Still Rebuilding One Year After Tsunami
SANTA CRUZ (KCBS) - The tranquility of Santa Cruz Harbor on Friday hides damage the harbor sustained from a tsunami triggered by last year's massive earthquake off the coast of Japan.
"Looks like a harbor, everyone's here enjoying it," said Port Director Lisa Ekers, surveying the harbor two days before the one-year anniversary of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
The ocean hides the true extent of the damage wrought on March 11, 2011.
Powerful surges snapped quarter-inch steel brackets and severed structural supports that were over six inches thick on dozens of docks. Nineteen ships were also sunk.
Ekers said two of the 23 docks that needed to be rebuilt have been completed.
"A year later, we're making substantial progress. We've gotten a lot of improvements underway," she said, noting the signs of construction everywhere.
The harbor has spent $5 million so far, and Ekers expects it will have cost another $12 million by the time repairs are finished at the end of 2013.
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