Tsunami

A tsunami (pronounced soo-nah-mee or tsoo-nah-mee ) is a natural phenomenon consisting of a series of waves generated when water in a lake or the sea is rapidly displaced on a massive scale. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and large meteorite impacts all have the potential to generate a tsunami. The effects of a tsunami can range from unnoticeable to devastating.

Past tsunamis

See also List of historic tsunamis by death toll.

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Tsunamis occur most frequently in the Pacific Ocean, but are a global phenomenon; they are possible wherever large bodies of water are found, including inland lakes, where they can be caused by landslides. Very small tsunamis, non-destructive and undetectable without specialized equipment, occur frequently as a result of minor earthquakes and other events.

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6100 B.C. and before

In the North Atlantic Ocean, the Storegga Slides were a major series of sudden underwater land movements over the course of tens of thousands of years, which caused tsunamis and megatsunamis across a wide area.

Related Topics:
North Atlantic Ocean - Storegga Slide

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1650 B.C. - Santorini

At some time between 1650 BC and 1600 BC (still debated), the volcanic Greek island Santorini erupted, causing a 100 m to 150 m high tsunami that devastated the north coast of Crete, 70 km (45 miles) away, and would certainly have wiped out the Minoan civilization along Crete's northern shore. Santorini is regarded as the most likely source for Plato's literary parable of Atlantis.

Related Topics:
1650 BC - 1600 BC - Greek island - Santorini - Crete - Minoan civilization - Plato - Parable - Atlantis

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In 2002 it was suggested that the Bristol Channel floods of 1607 in England and Wales, UK, may have been caused by a tsunami.

Related Topics:
Bristol Channel floods of 1607 - England - Wales - UK

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1700 - Vancouver Island, Canada

January 26 - The Cascadia Earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes on record, ruptures the Cascadia Subduction Zone offshore from Vancouver Island to northern California, creating a tsunami logged in Japan and oral traditions of the American First Nations.

Related Topics:
January 26 - Cascadia Earthquake

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1755 - Lisbon, Portugal

Tens of thousands of Portuguese who survived the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake were killed by a tsunami which followed a half hour later. Many townspeople fled to the waterfront, believing the area safe from fires and from falling debris from aftershocks. Before the great wall of water hit the harbour, waters retreated, revealing lost cargo and forgotten shipwrecks.

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The earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent fires killed more than a third of Lisbon's pre-quake population of 275,000. Historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators were lost, and countless buildings were destroyed (including most examples of Portugal's Manueline architecture). Europeans of the 18th century struggled to understand the disaster within religious and rational belief systems. Philosophers of the Enlightenment, notably Voltaire, wrote about the event. The philosophical concept of the sublime, as described by philosopher Immanuel Kant in the Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime, took inspiration in part from attempts to comprehend the enormity of the Lisbon quake and tsunami.

Related Topics:
Vasco da Gama - Manueline - Religious - Rational - Enlightenment - Voltaire - Philosophical - Sublime - Immanuel Kant - Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime

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1883 - Krakatoa explosive eruption

The island volcano of Krakatoa in Indonesia exploded with devastating fury in 1883, blowing its underground magma chamber partly empty so that much overlying land and seabed collapsed into it. A series of large tsunami waves was generated from the explosion, some reaching a height of over 40 metres above sea level. Tsunami waves were observed throughout the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the American West Coast, South America, and even as far away as the English Channel. On the facing coasts of Java and Sumatra the sea flood went many miles inland and caused such vast loss of life that one area was never resettled but went back to the jungle and is now the Ujung Kulon nature reserve.

Related Topics:
Krakatoa - 1883 - Magma - Metres - Indian Ocean - Pacific Ocean - English Channel - Java - Sumatra - Jungle - Ujung Kulon - Nature reserve

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1929 - Newfoundland tsunami

On November 18, 1929, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 occurred beneath the Laurentian Slope on the Grand Banks. The quake was felt throughout the Atlantic Provinces of Canada and as far west as Ottawa, Ontario and as far south as Claymont, Delaware. The resulting tsunami measured over 7 metres in height and took about 2½ hours to reach the Burin Peninsula on the south coast of Newfoundland, where 28 people lost their lives in various communities.

Related Topics:
Laurentian Slope - Grand Banks - Canada - Ottawa, Ontario - Claymont, Delaware - Burin Peninsula - Newfoundland

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1946 - Pacific tsunami

The Aleutian Island earthquake tsunami that killed 165 people on Hawaii and Alaska resulted in the creation of a tsunami warning system, established in 1949 for Pacific Ocean area countries.

Related Topics:
Aleutian Island earthquake - Hawaii - Alaska - Tsunami warning system - 1949 - Pacific Ocean

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1960 - Chilean tsunami

The Great Chilean Earthquake, at magnitude 9.5 the strongest earthquake ever recorded, off the coast of South Central Chile, generated one of the most destructive tsunamis of the 20th century. It spread across the entire Pacific Ocean, with waves measuring up to 25 metres high. When the tsunami hit Onagawa, Japan, almost 22 hours after the quake, the wave height was 3 m above high tide. The number of people killed by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami is estimated to be between 490 and 2,290.

Related Topics:
Great Chilean Earthquake - Earthquake - Chile - 20th century - Onagawa

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1963 - Vajont Dam disaster

The reservoir behind the Vajont Dam in northern Italy was struck by an enormous landslide. A tsunami was triggered which swept over the top of the dam (without bursting it) and into the valley below. Over 3,000 people were killed.

Related Topics:
Reservoir - Vajont Dam - Italy - Landslide

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1964 - Good Friday tsunami

After the magnitude 9.2 Good Friday Earthquake, tsunamis struck Alaska, British Columbia, California and coastal Pacific Northwest towns, killing 122 people. The tsunamis were up to 6 m tall, and killed 11 people as far away as Crescent City, California.

Related Topics:
Good Friday Earthquake - Alaska - British Columbia - California - Pacific Northwest - Crescent City

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1979 - Tumaco tsunami

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred on December 12, 1979 at 7:59:4.3 (UTC) along the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador. The earthquake and the resulting tsunami caused the destruction of at least six fishing villages and the death of hundreds of people in the Colombian province of Nariño. The earthquake was felt in Bogotá, Cali, Popayán, Buenaventura and several other cities and towns in Colombia and in Guayaquil, Esmeraldas, Quito and other parts of Ecuador. When the Tumaco Tsunami hit the coast, it caused great destruction in the city of Tumaco, as well as in the small towns of El Charco, San Juan, Mosquera and Salahonda on the Pacific Coast of Colombia. The total number of victims of this tragedy was 259 dead, 798 wounded and 95 missing presumed dead.

Related Topics:
December 12 - 1979 - UTC - Colombia - Ecuador - Nariño - Bogotá - Cali - Popayán - Buenaventura - Guayaquil - Esmeraldas - Quito - Tumaco

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1993 – Okushiri tsunami

A devastating tsunami occurred off the coast of Hokkaido in Japan as a result of an earthquake on July 12, 1993. As a result, 202 people on the small island of Okushiri lost their lives, and hundreds more were missing or injured.

Related Topics:
Hokkaido - July 12 - 1993 - Okushiri

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2004 - Indian Ocean tsunami

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The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, that had a magnitude 9.0, triggered a series of lethal tsunamis on December 26, 2004 that killed over 230,000 people (more than 168,000 in Indonesia alone), making it the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. The tsunami killed people over an area ranging from the immediate vicinity of the quake in Indonesia, Thailand and the north-western coast of Malaysia to thousands of kilometres away in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and even as far as Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania in eastern Africa. The disaster prompted a huge worldwide effort to help victims of the tragedy, with hundreds of millions of dollars being raised for disaster relief.

Related Topics:
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake - Magnitude - December 26 - 2004 - Quake - Indonesia - Thailand - Malaysia - Bangladesh - India - Sri Lanka - Maldives - Somalia - Kenya - Tanzania - Africa

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Unlike in the Pacific Ocean, there is no organised alert service covering the Indian Ocean. This is in part due to the absence of major tsunami events between 1883 (the Krakatoa eruption, which killed 36,000 people) and 2004. In light of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, UNESCO and other world bodies have called for a global tsunami monitoring system.

Related Topics:
Pacific Ocean - Indian Ocean - 1883 - Krakatoa - 2004 - UNESCO - Tsunami monitoring system

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The lack of an established infrastructure within this Indian Ocean region means that any development and reconstruction is subject to internal (political) influences.

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Other tsunamis in South Asia

Other historical tsunamis

Other tsunamis that have occurred include the following:

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• circa 500 C.E.: Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu, India, Maldives
• January 20, 1606/1607: along the coast of the Bristol Channel (main article) thousands of people were drowned, houses and villages swept away, farmland was inundated and flocks were destroyed by a flood that might have been a tsunami. The cause of the flood remains disputed, it is quite possible that it was caused by a combination of meteorological extremes and tidal peaks (discussion).
• January 26, 1700: the Cascadia Earthquake (estimated 9.0 magnitude) caused massive tsunamis across the Pacific Northwest and in Awa, Japan
• One of the worst tsunami disasters engulfed whole villages along Sanriku, Japan, in 1896. A wave more than seven stories tall (about 20 m) drowned some 26,000 people.
• 1946: An earthquake in the Aleutian Islands sent a tsunami to Hawaii, killing 159 people (five died in Alaska).
• July 9, 1958: A huge landslip caused the highest ever reported tsunami which was 524 metres high. This happened in the fjord shaped Lituya Bay, Alaska, USA. It travelled at over 100mph.
• 1976: On 16 August (midnight) a tsunami killed more than 5000 people in the Moro Gulf region (Cotabato City) of the Philippines.
• 1983: 104 people in western Japan were killed by a tsunami spawned from a nearby earthquake.
• 17 July, 1998: A Papua New Guinea tsunami killed approximately 2200 people. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake 24 km offshore was followed within 11 minutes by a tsunami about 12 m tall. While the magnitude of the quake was not large enough to create these waves directly, it is believed the earthquake generated an undersea landslide, which in turn caused the tsunami. The villages of Arop and Warapu were destroyed.

North American and Caribbean tsunamis

• 14 November 1840 - Great Swell on the Delaware River
• 18 November 1867 - Virgin Islands
• 17 November 1872 - Maine
• 11 October 1918 - Puerto Rico
• 18 November 1929 - Newfoundland
• 9 January 1926 - Maine
• 4 August 1946 - Dominican Republic
• 18 August 1946 - Dominican Republic

Possible Tsunami

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• 35 Million years ago - Chesapeake Bay impact crater, Chesapeake Bay
• 9 June 1913 - Longport, NJ
• 6 August 1923 - Rockaway Park, Queens, NY. An article on triplicate waves.
• 8 August 1924 - Coney Island, NY.
• 19 August 1931 - Atlantic City, NJ
• 21 September 1938 - Hurricane, NJ coast.
• 19 May 1964 - Northeast USA
• 4 July 1992 - Daytona Beach, FL

Source: NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office

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