Preliminary tsunami damage not too bad

... in California, that is.

According to KCBS/KPIX, the local CBS radio and TV affiliates, most of the damage has occurred in harbors, specifically, those in Crescent City (which bore the brunt of the largest tsunami in recent U.S. history back in 1964) and Santa Cruz.

As for San Francisco:

The bluffs above San Francisco’s Ocean Beach were dotted with spectators who couldn’t resist seeing the effects of the tsunami for themselves.

The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the waves seemed no more dramatic than most days, several Sunset District residents said.

So we Californians can breathe a sigh of relief, right?

Well ...

There have been aftershocks to the Honshu quake that measured magnitude 7 or better. A magnitude 7 quake is worthy of being considered a major quake on its own. A professional pessimist, as I am some days, would reflect that it's at least possible the massive 8.9 that triggered the current tsunami is itself merely a precursor to an even larger quake. That, of course, could spawn an even larger tsunami.

(I don't mean to ignore the tremendous destruction and loss of life that the quakes that have already occurred have visited on Japan. I'm just not equipped to disseminate information about Japan's plight. However, I do have a pretty good perspective on the impact of any tsunami on California, so I'm playing to my limited strengths.)