chile tsunami 1960

(Image:  Wikipedia Commons/Richard Aster, New Mexico Tech)Below:  Using historical data, NOAA plotted the maximum amplitude for the tsunami waves generated by the 1960 Chile earthquake.

(Image:  NOAA/Don Tocher)

Tsunami, (Japanese: “harbour wave”) catastrophic ocean wave, usually caused by a submarine earthquake, an underwater or coastal landslide, or a volcanic eruption. Date: 23 May 1960 Source: Distant Cause: Earthquake in Chile The M W 9.5 Chilean earthquake that occurred on 23 May 1960, 7:11 pm (NZST) is the largest earthquake instrumentally recorded to date. …were severely damaged in the 1960 earthquake and by the ensuing tsunami.

A Pacific-wide tsunami was triggered by the earthquake, which had a surface-wave magnitude of 8.6, an epicenter of 39.5° S, 74.5° W, and a focal depth of 33 km.

A tsunami caused by an earthquake off the coast of Chile travels across the Pacific Ocean and kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii, on May 23, 1960.The …

The waves then traveled across the Pacific Ocean and arrived in Hilo, Hawaii, fifteen hours after the earthquake, causing 61 deaths on the waterfront, and causing nearly $57 million (USD 2011) in damages.

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean Earthquake of Sunday, 22 May 1960 is to date the most powerful megathrust earthquake ever recorded on Earth, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale.

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The tsunami even registered on tide gauges in South Australia and Western Australia.

“The Pacific Tsunami Warning System was put in place five years after the 1960 event.

Waves of up to 82 feet wiped out entire areas on the Chilean coast, and reached as far away as Japan and the Philippines.Given the magnitude of the disaster, the estimated casualties for Chile have wide ranges – between 1655 and 6000 deaths, and $2.9 to 5.8 billion (USD 2011) in damages – which do not differentiate between the earthquakes and the other resulting natural disasters. tsunami damage in Hilo, Hawaii after the Chile earthquake of 1960 Debris from buildings damaged by a nearly 35-foot (11-metre) tsunami, Hilo, Hawaii island, Hawaii.

The Great Chilean Earthquake occurred in the afternoon (15:11 local time) and its resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleuti…

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This permanently altered the shorelines of much of the area in Chile impacted by the earthquake, renderin…

The massive earth movement triggered a number of natural disasters in addition to tsunami, including landslides, a flood, and a volcanic eruption, as well as a seiche on an Argentina lake more than 124 miles away from the epicenter. Megathrust earthquakes generate tsunamis (known as teletsunamis) that can cross entire oceans. The force of the wave—caused by an earthquake on May 22, 1960, off the coast of Chile—was enough to bend parking meters to the ground.

Also referred to as the Great Chilean earthquake or the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5, and according to modern simulation models, generated a powerful Pacific Ocean tsunami that nearly circled the globe.