Tsunami is just one of nature’s nightmarish disasters. Its potential to destroy, was just a possibility, almost anafterthought. The idea had been lying dormant just beneath the ocean, and it seemed as far fetched as well water, and life on mars, until the idea made the concept a reality. A tsunami in this section of the world, as a clear and present danger, had slipped from conscious to a subliminal fear like a child’s bad dream, an unrealized or suppressed anxiety, it didn’t really exist.

A major event of this nature had not occurred since the late 1800’s. It left the Indian Ocean nation unprotected by the tsunami warning system. That’s in use elsewhere in the world. The belief that a tsunami could wreak utter havoc on this scale, with such epic and sweeping proportions, was out of step with reality. That it could affect countries beyond the natural barriers hindering its passage, was unthought-of. The realism came home to the world, in the scenes of destruction, and the reports of the missing, and presumed dead. Native villagers to the vacationing tourists from all parts of the world have fallen victim, the truly lucky were spared. The ripple affect, like the wave itself will be felt for years to come, just as the physical effects have been felt worldwide. Undersea earthquakes to the rest of the world, are the usual suspect as the cause of these events. The addition of this area to the tsunami warning system will prevent if not certainly reduce any future catastrophic affects of this nature. We are not likely to see, or witness this level of death, and destruction again. “The Megatsunami the inconceivable was first realized by geological surveyors searching for oil in Alaska in late 1950’s to early 1960’s. They observed evidence of unusually large waves in the nearby inlet called Lituya Bay, Alaska (1).”

The Sumatra Island quake of December, 2004 is now one of the largest events recorded. “A Tectonic plate moving beneath another other produces a geological event called subduction. The Sumatra Island tsunami, was the result in this case. The subduction created vertical lift as well ( Wikipedia 1).” There were two waves one quickly moving eastward into the island of Sumatra and the other spreading rapidly westward toward India.

“The term "tsunami" comes from the Japanese language meaning harbour ("tsu"/津) and wave ("nami"/波/浪). The term was created by fishermen who returned to port to find the area surrounding the harbour devastated, although they had not been aware of any wave in the open water (Wikipedia, 1).”

Megatsunami the concept of how an event of this nature could occur was inconceivable and little understood at the time of its discovery. The early examinations by the surveying geologists
were unclear. The initial investigation were by a geologist and trained surveyor looking for geological features that could indicate possible drilling sights in oil exploration. On his own he
returned to this sight some years after first noticing what he thought unusual geology. He returned later to investigate his curiosity. His preliminary examinations on sight revealed unusual findings. Among these findings were trees at high altitudes contained sea salts, and debris. The photographic evidence he had also confirming a mechanism unknown and unimagined by scientist. He interviewed local residents about unusual events such as large tidal waves led him to a father and son who were local fishermen. Their story was hard to believe if not beyond belief. What could be the cause of this event, earthquake, landslides, or volcanoes. Is this an isolated phenomenon, could
it happen else where in the world? Could it happen again and if so when? Could it happen here?

On July 9th 1958 an earthquake [emphasis added] in the vicinity of Lituya Bay, Alaska triggering a massive landslide just opposite the headlands from the rock face at the inland terminus of the bay.

While anchored on the other side of a small Island, near the last third of the bay, they were first hand witnesses to an event. Their story of a giant wave which they somehow managed to survive was difficult to believe yet news paper accounts of the destruction while murky as to how major this event was confirmed their story. The story and later findings revealed they survived a wave in their small boat whose size is now estimated to have been over five hundred feet in height.

The earthquake that caused the tsunami in Sumatra was one of the rarest only eleven quakes of such magnitude have been recorded in the last 100 years. The readjusted magnitude of this quake is now 9.0 [emphasis added]on the Richter scale. In comparison the Alaskan earth quake of 1964 was one of the fourth largest ever recorded, and reevaluated recently to a magnitude of 9.3[emphasis added]. (Wikipedia 1). The earth in the area surrounding Anchorage, Alaska if zero is the level ground moved up seventy five feet into the air and sunk as low as seventy five feet in rolling waves for a change in ground level of one hundred and fifty feet for five minutes. The December quake lasted several minutes as well. My Ex wife was there she was twelve years old at the time. Her fears and paranoia remained and as far as I know she still jumps in fear some 40 years later.

“The energy released by the December, 26, 2004 undersea earthquake not including the tsunami’s was greater than twice, yes “twice”, the equivalent of ever bullet, bomb, mortar, rocket, every explosion including the two nuclear bombs dropped[emphasis added] in five years of battle during World War II. It increased the earth’s rotation, it moved theIsland of Sumatra some sixty six ft. north and one hundred eighteen feet southwest. Smaller islands moved wholly twenty feet west from their previous locations. Other facts particular to this event were persons killed five thousand miles form the epicenter, and the land in Oklahoma was slightly taller for a moment. The energy released could boil forty gallons of water for everyone on earth. It shortened the length of a day by An estimated 2.68 micro
seconds. The speed of the wave was roughly five hundred mph. allowing it to cross great distances. In twelve hours it crossed five thousand miles of ocean to kill again. Within two days it had produced reverberant waves over the entire world. It moved the an area whose surface equivalent to the energy effects equal the pull from the sun and moon on the worlds tides (Wikipedia 1).”

“Volcanic eruptions are also a causes whose effects produce the resulting tsunamis (Wikipedia 1).” Not that long ago a new and unforeseen force was found to be lurking in the shadows of our geological past. This is a force caused event not realized until the late 70’s, but discovered earlier some time in the late 50’s early 60’s and who’s destructive force we can scarcelycomprehend. “In fact we can’t, but film makers have in movies, such as Deep Impact, The Abyss, the directors cut, and more recently, The Day After Tomorrow, showing us megatsunamis the inconceivable (1).” You’ve probably never even heard of them, or that they are even possible, you have seen them in movies and thought, yeah right, like that can really happen. They were just some director’s monstrous disaster nightmare, but the reality may turn out to be far worse than any movie.

“The Lituya Bay Megatsunami, the first for which eye-witnesses were recorded, reached five hundred and twenty four meters (1720 feet) above sea level. However, This quote was not the height of an open water wave, but the height it tore up the mountain side due its force of impact in a relatively narrow harbor. The open water wave was one of a short series of single waves (solitons) (Wikipedia 1).”

“By comparison, a strong tsunami may reach typically around ten to fifteen meters above normal sea level or up to thirty meters on occasion, and often come in trains of multiple waves. The topology of the inlet is particular suited to producing local megatsunami in a nearby magnitude 7.5 earthquake on July 8 generated a landslidewithin the narrow inlet which produced a wave that washed out trees two hundredmeters above normal sea level. Comparison with previous photographs indicated that several hundred feet of ice had been removed from the front of a nearby glacier by a five hundred twenty four feet high wave (2).”

“A typical tsunami (pronounced /suːnaːmi (ː)/ or /tsuː-/) is a natural phenomenon consisting of a series of waves generated when water in a lake or the sea is rapid displaced on a massive scale (2).”

“Besides fjords in Alaska many locations face threats of localized, but still potentiallydangerous megatsunami ¬type waves. For example, in 1963, an enormous slab fromthe side of Mount Toc in the mountains north of Venice, Italy, slid into the reservoir held by Vajont Dam producing waves some two hundred fifty meters (825 feet) high, destroying several villages, and killing nearly 2000 people. Some geologists speculate that an unstable rock face at the north end of Harrison Lake in the Fraser Valley in
southwestern British Columbia could collapse into the lake generating a large wave that might destroy the town and Harrison Hot Springs resort at the southern end (Wikipedia1).”

“This possibility was found recently in the Pacific Rim area’s of the U.S. with discoveries off the Hawaiian Islands of at least five slide debris fields to the surprise and alarm of geologists (1).”
The search was on. Did this happen else where in the world and with what regularity? Using the Landsat satellite, scientist searched the globe looking for specific geological features. These features would then be investigated to determine the likelihood for causing a Mega tsunami. The scientist to their surprise and alarm found more than they bargained for or imagined. The results of the search targeted sights which upon investigation of the areas and their geological history confirmed megatsunamis had indeed happened quite regularly thought earths geological history. The last geologically historical megatsunami appears to have occurred as recently as four thousand years ago and one seven thousand years. There effects were to reshape and island and thought to be part of the creation myth of the Aboriginal tribes in Australia.

“The next likely source a megatsunami could be the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands. As the result of an eruption the western half of the Cumbre Vieja ridge slipped several feet toward the Atlantic Ocean. This is anticipated to occur sometime within the next twenty five thousand years the western half of the island, will produce a landslide weighing perhaps five hundred billion tons will catastrophically drop into the ocean (Wikipedia 1).”

This will inevitably generate a megatsunami with local wave heights of hundreds of meters. After the megatsunami travels across the Atlantic it would likely have a wave height of ten to
twenty five meters at the Caribbean and the Eastern American seaboard coast several hours later (1).” The estimates based on which expert was speaking says the height of the wave maybe from a minimum of seventy five feet to nine hundred, anything is possible. The data to formulate the reality is difficult to determine as it is based on how much debris falls in the landslide creating the megatsunami. The higher estimates are based on if the entire “five hundred billion tones” drops at once, in one piece, or in pieces. This hardly seems relevant as any great amount will undoubtedly kill millions, not just thousands. The wave will be traveling at five hundred to seven hundred miles an hour it will reach the Eastern Seaboard in less than eight hours after the event. How do you evacuate several million people in greater Manhattan in just eight hours, let alone the entire coast? Recommendations are to err on the greater verses the lesser; the greater is a wave two hundred seventy plus meters (roughly 900 feet).



This discovery will one day lay great burden on the country it strikes, and the generation it scares. I don’t think we even begin to grasp the staggering consequences it will have globally. The December, 26th, 2004 undersea quake and subsequent tsunami is possibly the greatest tsunami catastrophe in recorded human history at present geologically. The December, 26th, quake and
tsunami is turning out to be as catastrophic an event as we could have not imagined. It will be termed a historic event of unimaginable humanistic proportions. When we examine the December 26th, catastrophe, with its display of Natures wrath, loss of life, property damage, its social, cultural, generational affects we barely begin to comprehend the inconceivable reality of a Megatsunami. It is not a mater of if it will happen it is a case of when, where, and how soon. Can we prepare for it could we do anything to alter it? When the inconceivable strikes it will make all previous natural and man made tragedies seem trivial to all previous tsunami related events of the last two thousand years, they will pale in comparison. Underwater earthquakes do not normally generate such large tsunamis unless they also trigger an underwater landslide they have a height of less than ten meters. Some have conjectured that historic megatsunamis underlie the deluge legends that are common to many cultures throughout the world.

The dictionary defines Fear: as an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm. The likelihood of something unwelcome happening, to be afraid of, or anxious about. (2) Megatsunami is a clear and present danger and could slip from conscious to a subliminal fear, like a child’s bad dream an unrealized or suppressed anxiety, not to really exist till faced
with one.

Recent chilling finding indicate a wave as one thousand six hundred feet struck a Hawaiian Island. There appears to be several mechanisms which cause the megatsunami beyond just earthquakes and volcanic activity. Evidence of the geological Megatsunami appears to indicate there is an important connection between them and “Global Warming.” The scientific finds looks as though when sea levels rise do to climactic changes as a result of melting glaciers and polar ice caps the chances of potential for a megatsunami goes up exponentially. The wisdom indicates as sea rise the weakened cliffs in the areas prone to clave become stressed and failures increase.


The island country of Sumatra and the State of Oregon have more in common than you might imagine. It could happen here, not far off the Oregon coast, stretching from Washington to
Northern California lies the subduction plates of the Pacific seismic zone and the tectonic plate Jaun de Fuca collide. Every three hundred years, like clock work, a major quake of 9.0 on the Richter Scale happens in this region. The resulting Tsunami it is estimated, in a best case scenario, would reach the Oregon coast in 30 minutes of a rupture in this fault the worst case is 15 minutes. Either way the Coast may be living on barrowed time. The last such undersea quake was 1700 as of 2005 we are 5 years over due and counting.



Works Cited


Bay, Lituya, 1958 Tsunami, USC, Tsunami Research Center 20052005 Tsunami Research Center2005 < www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/.../1958/webpages>
<www.usc.edu/dept/tsunami...5/index.html>

Mega-Tsunami: Wave of Destruction, BBC Two 9:30pm 12 October 2000
Revisited: BBC Four 7pm 24 May 2003, 02-26-05, 8:24pm
<www.bbc.co.uk/science/hor...script.html>

Christie, Michael: Coming One Day Near You - A Mega-Tsunami, 2-26-2
evidence that eastern Australia was struck by a mega-tsunami around 1500, which
would coincide with the Aboriginal…
<www.rense.com/general20/c...onedayg.htm>

Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 3rd Edition
Great Clarendon Street; Oxford OX2 6DP, Oxford Press: 2001

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Megatsunami, 02-26-05
This page last modified 02:40, 13 March 2005
<en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php
<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004...arthquake>