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A tsunami hitting a coastline. This article lists notable tsunamis, which are sorted by the date and location that they occurred.. Because of seismic and volcanic activity associated with tectonic plate boundaries along the Pacific Ring of Fire, tsunamis occur most frequently in the Pacific Ocean, [1] but are a worldwide natural phenomenon.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was a teletsunami.. A teletsunami (also called an ocean-wide tsunami, distant tsunami, distant-source tsunami, far-field tsunami, or trans-ocean tsunami) is a tsunami that originates from a distant source, defined as more than 1,000 km (620 mi) away or three hours' travel from the area of interest, [1] [2] sometimes travelling across an ocean.
Tsunami aftermath in Aceh, Indonesia, December 2004. Tsunamis are sometimes referred to as tidal waves. [15] This once-popular term derives from the most common appearance of a tsunami, which is that of an extraordinarily high tidal bore. Tsunamis and tides both produce waves of water that move inland, but in the case of a tsunami, the inland ...
Tsunamis can occur when an underwater earthquake rapidly displaces massive amounts of water, leading to a large, long wave that builds in intensity as it crosses the ocean.
Most destructive tsunamis. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake occurred off Sumatra, an Indonesian island in the Indian Ocean. It generated a tsunami that was as high as 167 feet (51 meters), causing an estimated 230,000 deaths. Another magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck in Japan in 2011, creating a tsunami with waves reaching 127 feet (39 meters).
Tsunamis and meteotsunamis are otherwise similar enough that it can be difficult to distinguish one from the other, as in cases where there is a tsunami wave but there are no records of an earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption.
The Lituya Bay megatsunami caused damage at higher elevations than any other tsunami, being powerful enough to push water up the tree covered slopes of the fjord with enough force to clear trees to a reported height of 524 m (1,719 ft). [9] A 1:675 recreation of the tsunami found the wave crest was 150 m (490 ft) tall. [14]
A Whatcom County resident survived the deadliest tsunami in recorded history when she was just 13 years old. Now, 19 years after the disaster, she’s telling her story. Monica Connelly was ...