Tsunamis

TSUNAMIS  () are giant waves created by seismic activity below the ocean floor. Travelling in a series, tsunamis spread outward at speeds of several hundred km/h, separated by gaps of 100 to 400 km. At sea they are not high and hardly betray their presence to ships as they pass. When they arrive on shore they sometimes bring nothing more than a gentle, if substantial, rise and fall in water levels. However, they can arrive in a cresting wall of water as high as a multistorey building and can cause extensive damage and loss of life. The largest recorded tsunami on the BC coast, created by an EARTHQUAKE off southern Alaska, swept up ALBERNI INLET on the night of 27–28 Mar 1964 and crashed into PORT ALBERNI, causing $10 million worth of property damage. Other waves from the same earthquake killed 122 people in Alaska, California and Oregon. A Pacific Tsunami Warning System now enables 24 nations, including Canada, to monitor wave activity.