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[ t s u n a m i s   :   c a s e   s t u d i e s ]


Click on the links to read about tsunamis which have occurred throughout history.

Crete (1450 B.C.)
After Santorini (Thera) erupted, tsunami destroyed many Minoan cities. This event may have later developed into the legend of Atlantis.

Potidaea, Greece (497 B.C.)
A tsunami killed many people.

Port Royal, Jamaica (1692)
A huge tsunami lifted a large English frigate and carried it over the town to the port on the other side. Some drowning citizens were able to grab the ship’s cables and pull themselves aboard, riding to safety above housetops!

Japan (1707)
Although there are no detailed reports, a wave supposedly killed 30,000 citizens.

Callao, Peru (1724)
80-foot waves caused widespread destruction.

Cape Lopatka, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia (1737)
A 210-foot wave, the highest ever recorded, washed over the peninsula.

Lisbon, Portugal (1755, November 1)
Three tsunami hit Lisbon, Portugal just after a great earthquake devastated much of the city. Hundreds of people went to the open waterfront to find safety, and many drowned when 20- to 50-foot high rolled in from the sea. About 30,000 perished in this disaster. The wave was felt all over the Atlantic, sweeping over Britain, Spain, and Morocco. Fish were carried into the streets in Madeira, and the West Indies witness tides 12 feet higher than normal.

Arica, Chile (1868, August 8)
An earthquake triggered a 50-foot-high tsunami that crashed over the city, capsizing ships, destroying buildings, and flooding streets. The American gunship Wateree was lifted a few miles inland and dropped right side up beside Peruvian man-of-war America.

Krakatoa, Indonesia (1883, August 27)
After a volcano erupted on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa, tsunami drowned more than 36,000 people. Waves traveled across the Indian Ocean and 4,700 miles into the Atlantic. Thirty-two hours, observers noted water in the English Channel rising. Water levels also increased 11,000 miles away, on the North America’s west coast. The more destructive waves were probably caused by the volcanic cone’s initial collapse.

Sanriku, Japan (1896, June 15)
As thousands of people gathered on the Sanriku coast at 7 p.m. to celebrate a Shinto holiday called Boys’ Festival, few noticed several little shocks beneath their feet. An hour later there was a loud boom and hiss. The sea abruptly withdrew away from the shore, then rushed back onto the islanders in a 110-foot-high wave, injuring 9,000 people. The result of an offshore earthquake, the tsunami was unnoticed by fishermen at sea, who were greeted with devastating wreckage when they returned to port. The wave swept over 170 miles of coastline, taking 13,000 homes, 7,000 fishing boats, and 28,000 lives. Ten and a half hours later, the wave touched down in San Francisco, 5,000 miles away.

Calabria, Italy (1908)
After an earthquake, a four-story-high tsunami crashes over and takes almost 100,000 lives.

Sanriku, Japan (1933, March)
An earthquake in the Tuscarora Deep created a tsunami that killed 3,000 people, broke 9,000 buildings, and overturned 8,000 water craft. The waves were felt in San Francisco and Iquique, Chile, 9,000 miles away.

Hilo, Hawaii, USA (1946, April 1)
Residents ran for their lives from a 500-mile-per-hour tsunami caused by an earthquake near Alaska, some 2,300 miles away. Minutes before the wave struck, the sea level fell, luring many people out onto newly revealed reefs. The death toll in Hawaii’s worst natural disaster was 173, while 163 were injured. 1,000 structures were damaged, totaling $25 million damage. This event helped create the Seismic Sea Wave Warning System, a warning-evacuation plan that would save many lives when another tsunami hit in 1960. Today, the program is part of UNESCO’s International Tsunami Warning Center.

Lituya Bay, Alaska, USA (1958, July 9)
The trawler Sunmore was swimming sailing near Lituya Bay of southeastern Alaska on a summer evening in 1958. Suddenly, an earthquake shook the bay, and 90 million tons of icy rock fell into the water from the northeast wall of Gilbert Inlet, which formed part of the T-shaped inlet. The splash of water it caused, the largest wave in history, hit the opposite wall of Gilbert Inlet at a height of 1,720 feet. A wave 100 to 150 feet high raced at 100 miles per hour down the main bay. The Sunmore vanished, while another boat, the Edrie, was thrown into the center of the bay. The Badger was lifted by the wave 80 feet into the air and into the ocean, where it sank. Its crew was rescued by a passing ship. A day later, the only signs of the previous day’s events was a shoreline stripped of soil and vegetation to a height of more than 100 feet.

Hilo, Hawaii, USA (1960, May 22)
A Chilean earthquake caused the sea to recede and sweep back in the form of 25-foot-high waves. Many coastal towns were severely damaged, and the waves traveled westward to hit many Pacific islands as well. Little warning was sent to the South Pacific, so many regional countries were unprepared when great walls of water swept over New Guinea, New Zealand, Okinawa, and the Philippines. 300 people were killed, 100 of those in Japan, where waves continued for 18 hours. Hawaii was warned, however, and an hour and a half after the initial earthquake, sirens were sounded throughout the island. At 9 p.m., waves 4 feet higher than normal hit. At 12:40 a.m., a 9-foot-higher-than-normal wave struck, and at 1:04 a.m. a 20-foot-high, vertical wave came over the seawall and swept over downtown Hilo. 230 buildings were destroyed, and damages exceeded $20 million. 61 people perished. A survey of 330 survivors found that most people had heard the warning, but only 33 individuals evacuated. The majority of the people waited until after the first tsunami hit before leaving, and another 15% ignored all warnings completely. Most of the victims had ignored warnings and gone down to the beaches to see the waves.

Anchorage, Alaska (1964)
The first earthquake shock waves created tsunami that sped along the Pacific coast at more than 400 miles an hour, carrying burning oil that crushed and burned houses. Seven hours later, the water hit Crescent City, California, drowning ten people and destroying 150 stores. Other tidal waves traveled 4,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to crash into Japan. The waves also swept huge locomotives and freight cars off their tracks, and flung them into the city streets of Seward.

Irian, Indonesia (1979, September 12-13)
A number of earthquakes generated a series of tsunami that destroyed many low-lying coastal houses. The death toll was probably less than 100 people.

Nice, France (1979, October 16)
Undersea landslides caused two tsunami that drowned 12 people and overturned hundreds of boats. The sea suddenly receded from the shore and returned in two huge waves, hitting a 36-mile-long coastal stretch. 11 people working in a shipyard were drowned.

Majuro, Marshall Islands (1979, November 27 and December 3)
Two series of tsunami, occurring one week apart, almost destroyed the capital city of Majuro in the Marshall Islands. The city’s major districts were destroyed, but no lives were lost. President Jimmy Carter declared the area a disaster area after the first 20-foot-high waves hit. The tsunami were most likely caused by undersea seismic activity.

San Juan Island, Colombia (1979, December 12)
250 citizens drowned when a tsunami swept over and destroyed all the houses on the island. The wave was probably generated by an earthquake.

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