Papua new guinea 1998 tsunami. The most destructive tsunamis of our time. Philippines, Malay Archipelago

Tsunami is one of the most terrifying natural phenomena. It is a wave formed as a result of “shaking” of the entire thickness of water in the ocean. Tsunamis are most often caused by underwater earthquakes.

Approaching the shore, the tsunami grows into a huge shaft tens of meters high and hits the shore with millions of tons of water. The largest tsunami in the world caused colossal destruction and led to the death of millions of people.

Krakatoa, 1883

This tsunami was not caused by an earthquake or landslide. The explosion of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia generated a powerful wave that swept along the entire coast of the Indian Ocean.

Residents of fishing villages within a radius of about 500 km from the volcano had virtually no chance of survival. Victims were observed even in South Africa, on the opposite shore of the ocean. In total, 36.5 thousand people are considered dead from the tsunami itself.

Kuril Islands, 1952

The tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 7 earthquake, destroyed the city of Severo-Kurilsk and several fishing villages. Then the residents had no idea about the tsunami and after the earthquake stopped they returned to their homes, becoming victims of a 20-meter water shaft. Many were caught up in the second and third waves because they did not know that a tsunami is a series of waves. About 2,300 people died. The authorities of the Soviet Union decided not to report the tragedy in the media, so the disaster became known only decades later.


The city of Severo-Kurilsk was subsequently moved to a higher place. And the tragedy became the reason for the organization of a tsunami warning system in the USSR and more active scientific research in seismology and oceanology.

Lituya Bay, 1958

An earthquake with a magnitude of more than 8 provoked a huge landslide with a volume of more than 300 million cubic meters, consisting of stones and ice from two glaciers. To these were added the waters of the lake, the shore of which collapsed into the bay.


As a result, a gigantic wave was formed, reaching a height of 524 m! It swept across the bay, licking the vegetation and soil on the slopes of the bay like a tongue, completely destroying the spit that separated it from Gilbert Bay. This is the highest tsunami wave in history. The banks of Lituya were not inhabited, so only 5 fishermen became victims.

Chile, 1960

On May 22, the consequences of the Great Chilean Earthquake with a magnitude of 9.5 were a volcanic eruption and a tsunami 25 m high. Almost 6 thousand people died.


But the rogue wave did not calm down there. At the speed of a jet plane, it crossed the Pacific Ocean, killing 61 people in Hawaii, and reached the shores of Japan. Another 142 people became victims of the tsunami, which occurred at a distance of more than 10 thousand km. After this, it was decided to warn about the danger of a tsunami even in the most remote areas of the coast that may be in the path of a deadly wave.

Philippines, 1976

The powerful earthquake caused a wave, the height of which seems to be unimpressive - 4.5 m. Unfortunately, the tsunami hit the low-lying coast for more than 400 miles. But the residents were not prepared for such a threat. The result is more than 5 thousand dead and about 2.5 thousand missing without a trace. Almost 100 thousand residents of the Philippines were left homeless, and many villages along the coastline were simply completely washed away along with their inhabitants.


Papua New Guinea, 1998

The consequence of the earthquake on July 17 was a gigantic underwater landslide, which caused a 15-meter wave. And so the poor country suffered several natural disasters, more than 2,500 people died or went missing. And more than 10 thousand residents lost their homes and livelihoods. The tragedy became the impetus for studying the role of underwater landslides in causing tsunamis.


Indian Ocean, 2004

December 26, 2004 is forever inscribed in blood in the history of Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and other countries on the Indian Ocean coast. On this day, the tsunami claimed the lives of about 280 thousand people, and according to unofficial data - up to 655 thousand.


The underwater earthquake caused waves 30 m high that hit coastal areas within 15 minutes. The large number of deaths is due to several reasons. This is a high degree of population on the coast, low-lying areas, and a large number of tourists on the beaches. But the main reason is the lack of an established tsunami warning system and poor awareness of people about safety measures.

Japan, 2011

The height of the wave resulting from the magnitude 9 earthquake reached 40 m. The whole world watched in horror the footage of the tsunami destroying coastal buildings, ships, cars...

Tsunamis are waves that extend over a long period of time and have enormous destructive power. Originating in one point of the ocean, with lightning speed they reach territories remote over vast distances, wreaking havoc, destruction and death. The name of this natural phenomenon was given by the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun. The literal translation of the Japanese word tsunami is “harbor waves.” The occurrence of a tsunami is associated with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, underwater explosions, landslides, and the fall of large celestial bodies. The biggest tsunamis, which were observed in the last hundred years, were caused by strong earthquakes.

Tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk (USSR). 1952

An hour after the powerful earthquake, the first wave arrived in the city of Severo-Kurilsk and villages located on the coast of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. It was followed by two more with a height of 15 to 18 meters. The city was destroyed. According to unofficial data, about 5 thousand (according to official data - 2 thousand) people died. The scale and consequences of the 1952 tsunami, as with most disasters in the Soviet Union, were classified.

The biggest tsunamis in the state of Alaska (USA). 1957-1964

An earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 that occurred on the Andrean Islands in March 1957 caused a tsunami. Two waves 15 and 8 meters high caused the death of more than 300 people.

In July 1958, a wave of incredible height hit the coast in the Lituya Bay area. This event went down in the history of natural disasters as With the largest known to mankind. As a result of the earthquake, huge masses of soil and ice fell from the mountainside into the waters of the bay. A giant 150-meter wave formed. Traces of the destructive impact of the most impressive tsunami in the world were recorded at an altitude of 524 meters above sea level. 5 people died.

In March 1964, the world was rocked by a new report of a tsunami and the strongest earthquake in US history, which led to the appearance of giant waves. The magnitude of the Great Alaskan earthquake was 9.1-9.2. The total number of victims is 131 people, and the death of 122 of them, as well as serious destruction, are the consequences of the tsunami.

Largest tsunami in Papua New Guinea. 1998

The largest ever seen by the inhabitants of this island nation was caused by an earthquake accompanied by an underwater landslide. The wall of water that hit the coast reached 15 meters. The number of victims is more than 2 thousand people.

Tsunami of the 21st century

Since the beginning of the new millennium, Japan has suffered from such a destructive natural phenomenon as a tsunami three times. The first time was in 2004, the second time was in 2005. Then residents of coastal areas received a message about the tsunami in a timely manner and managed to leave dangerous areas.

In March 2011, 70 km from the nearest point on the Japanese coast, the strongest magnitude 9 earthquake in the history of the country occurred. The natural disaster caused damage to nuclear power plant reactors, which turned into sources of radioactive emissions. One of the most serious on the danger scale took only 10-30 minutes to reach the coast and destroy everything in its path. According to official sources, in 12 Japanese prefectures, 15,870 people died (data from September 5, 2012), thousands of people were injured, and a huge number of missing persons. Transport, residential real estate, and industrial enterprises were seriously damaged. Overall, the economic damage caused to Japan by the cataclysm was estimated at between $198 and $309 billion.

The most deadly natural disaster in modern human history is recognized as the natural disaster that erupted in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, which arose as a result of underwater tremors with a force of 9.1-9.3, covering land areas located even 6900 km away (South Africa, Port Elizabeth ) from the epicenter. Thousands of people died in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, southern India and other countries. The fate of so many people carried away by the giant wave remains unknown, so it is impossible to give an exact number of human casualties. Various experts agree that the death toll in this region at the end of 2004 reaches 225-300 thousand people.

The largest tsunamis

11/5/1952 Severo-Kurilsk (USSR).

Caused by a powerful earthquake (magnitude estimates from various sources range from 8.3 to 9), which occurred in the Pacific Ocean 130 kilometers from the coast of Kamchatka. Three waves up to 15-18 meters high (according to various sources) destroyed the city of Severo-Kurilsk and caused damage to a number of other settlements. According to official data, 2,336 people died. The population of Severo-Kurilsk before the tragedy was approximately six thousand people.


View of the port part of Severo-Kurilsk, where the entire city was located before the 1952 tsunami

03/9/1957 Alaska, (USA).

Caused by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake that occurred in the Andrean Islands (Alaska), which caused two waves, with average wave heights of 15 and 8 meters, respectively. In addition, as a result of the earthquake, the Vsevidov volcano, located on the island of Umnak and which had not erupted for about 200 years, woke up. More than 300 people died in the disaster.

07/09/1958 Lituya Bay, (southwest Alaska, USA).

An earthquake that occurred north of the bay (on the Fairweather Fault) initiated a strong landslide on the slope located above Lituya Bay of the mountain (about 300 million cubic meters of earth, rocks and ice). All this mass overwhelmed the northern part of the bay and caused a huge wave of a record height of about 150 meters, moving at a speed of 160 km/h. The maximum height at which damage caused by the wave was recorded was 524 meters above sea level.

03/28/1964 Alaska, (USA).

The largest earthquake in Alaska (magnitude 9.2), which occurred in Prince William Sound, caused a tsunami of several waves, with the highest height being 67 meters. As a result of the disaster (mainly due to the tsunami), according to various estimates, from 120 to 150 people died.


07/17/1998 Papua New Guinea.

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake off the northwestern coast of New Guinea triggered a massive underwater landslide that generated a tsunami that killed more than 2,000 people.

At 00:58, a powerful earthquake occurred - the second most powerful of all recorded (magnitude 9.3), causing the deadliest tsunami known. The tsunami affected Asian countries (Indonesia - 180 thousand people, Sri Lanka - 31-39 thousand people, Thailand - more than 5 thousand people, etc.) and African Somalia. The total number of deaths exceeded 235 thousand people.


Village in ruins off the coast of Sumatra

An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 caused a tsunami with a wave height of 30-50 cm. However, thanks to timely warning, the population was evacuated from dangerous areas.

Caused by a magnitude 8 earthquake that occurred in the South Pacific. Waves several meters high reached New Guinea. The tsunami killed 52 people.

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 9.0 with an epicenter located 373 km northeast of Tokyo caused a tsunami with a wave height exceeding 40 meters. According to the data obtained, the hypocenter of the earthquake was at a depth of 32 km. The source of the earthquake was located east of the northern part of the island of Honshu and extended over a distance of about 500 km. In addition, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused the accident at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant. As of July 2, 2011, the official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is 15,524 people, 7,130 people are missing, 5,393 people wounded.
Natural disasters that shook the world Zhmakin Maxim Sergeevich

TSUNAMI IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

TSUNAMI IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

On July 17, 1998, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.1 shook the northwestern coast of Papua New Guinea. The epicenter was located 50 km from the village of Aitape. The earthquake led to the formation of a destructive wave up to 15 m high in one of the most remote and isolated parts of the island's coast. The number of deaths as a result of the tsunami exceeded 2,100 people, and several thousand were left homeless.

Before the tragedy, in that part of the coast there was a small paradise lagoon of Varupu with two small islands where the Papuans lived. But the tremors that occurred at the bottom of the sea at an interval of 20 minutes initiated an underwater landslide, which occurred at a distance of more than 3,200 km from the site of the disaster. The wave that appeared washed away 3 villages on a 30 km stretch of coastline. More than 1,100 people were injured in seven settlements. In the capital of the country, Rabaul, 1,100 km from the epicenter of the cataclysm, sea level rose by 60 mm.

No tsunamis of this height have been recorded in this region of the Earth, although small ones occur here all the time. The consequence of the earthquake was a sunken coastline with a length of about 100 km. As a result, local residents were able to admire the newly-minted large lagoon up to 4 m deep.

Since Europeans first arrived on these islands (1st half of the 16th century), no significant seismicity has been observed here.

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A giant wave never appears just like that, the main thing is to have an idea of ​​​​the dangerous regions and take precautions.

Causes of tsunamis

  • Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes, but not every earthquake will necessarily cause a tsunami.
  • Experts associate the Great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which killed more than 50 thousand people off the coast of Spain and Portugal, with the tidal effects of the Moon and Sun on the earth's crust.
  • The 1998 tsunami, which destroyed everything in its path in the Papua New Guinea region, was caused by a landslide, the collapse of which, in turn, was provoked by a moderately powerful earthquake ().
  • So-called “meteorological” tsunamis appear against the background of typhoons: after a sharp turn of the typhoon to the side, the resulting wave can continue to move independently (for example, the 2011 tsunami in the area of ​​the English city of Plymouth was caused by a storm in the Bay of Biscay).
  • “Exclusive” tsunamis occur as a result of underwater volcanic eruptions (for example, the tsunami of 1883, formed after the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano), meteorite falls (a National Geographic channel documentary mentions traces of a tsunami that remained in the state of Texas after a meteorite fell 65 million years ago ) and man-made disasters.

Philippines, Malay Archipelago

The Philippine islands are located in a seismically active zone. And where there are earthquakes, there are tsunamis, and it is impossible to predict which of the seven thousand islands will be hit this year. In 2013, these were the islands of Samar and Leyte, where waves up to 5 meters high claimed the lives of 10 thousand people and left about half a million local residents homeless. And the worst tsunami in the history of the Philippines occurred in 1976, when, as a result of an earthquake in the Cotabato Trench, a wave hit the island of Mindanao, killing 8 thousand people.

Gizo, Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands - tiny pieces of land scattered across the Pacific Ocean - are defenseless against the destructive power of a tsunami, which was confirmed in 2007, when the cities of Gizo and Noro completely disappeared under water.

Honshu, Japan

In 2012, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that occurred near the Philippine city of Guan triggered a tsunami just over half a meter high in Japan that covered the capital region and Fukushima Prefecture. There is no comparison with the truly horrific destruction of 2011, when a magnitude 9 earthquake, dubbed the Great East Japan Earthquake, was followed by a tsunami up to 40 meters high, flooding an area of ​​561 square kilometers.

The greatest impact occurred in Miyagi Prefecture (327 km 2), and the highest wave height (40.5 meters) was recorded in Iwate Prefecture. Considering that the word “tsunami” itself came to us from the Japanese language (literally translated as “big wave in the harbor”), the Japanese, who had been familiar with this natural phenomenon for centuries, were not prepared for a tragedy of such magnitude.

Maldives

Despite its seemingly vulnerable position, the Maldives archipelago experienced its only major tsunami in 2004. There is a threat, but coral reefs serve as a reliable natural defense system for the island from surprises from the ocean.

More dangerous than a wave

  • The mechanism of tsunami formation differs from the mechanism of formation of an ordinary wave, and this is where its danger lies.
  • In a strong wind, the height of an ordinary wave can significantly exceed the height of an average 5-meter tsunami and even reach 20 meters, but the length of such a wave is no more than a couple of hundred meters.
  • During underwater earthquakes, the entire thickness of water comes into motion, so the length of the tsunami wave is measured in thousands of kilometers, and the speed can reach 1000 km/h.
  • An ordinary wave is driven by the wind, but a tsunami carries a huge charge of energy, moving towards land with all its might.
  • While a storm wave in narrow spaces loses its pressure, the power of a tsunami, on the contrary, is concentrated there, and it destroys everything in its path.

Phuket, Thailand

An underground earthquake with tremors of 9.0 magnitude brought death and destruction to the Thai island of Phuket in 2004. Despite the fact that the epicenter of the earthquake was in the Indian Ocean near the island of Sumatra, the subsequent tsunami reached the shores of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and even South Africa. Three waves hit each other in turn, leaving numerous buildings, local residents and tourists underwater.

Hilo, Hawaii

In the Hawaiian Islands, more precisely, in the city, the International Tsunami Warning Service is located. The location was not chosen by chance: Hawaii is regularly covered by waves about 2 meters high, with the main impact falling on the city of Hilo, which is located on the shore of the bay of the same name. Despite the small wave height, Hawaiian tsunamis are among the most dangerous, since if a person gets caught in a tsunami wave on one of the local sandy bays with a very short beach, he will simply be smashed against the rocks. But if you are careful, there is nothing to worry about: all such areas are marked with warning signs, and sirens are installed along the shores of the islands.

Alaska, USA

Alaska suffered two powerful tsunamis in a row: in 1957 and 1958, giant waves covered Andreanova Island and Lituya Bay, respectively. In 1958, the wave was so powerful that it actually destroyed an entire strip of land - the La Gaussy spit.

Kamchatka, Russia

Tsunami waves come to Kamchatka from an earthquake-prone zone, which is located in the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches. The three most powerful attacks of ocean waters occurred in the last century: in 1923, the wave height reached 30 meters, in 1952 - 15 meters, in 1960 - 7 meters.

Iquique, Chile

On May 22, 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake occurred near the Chilean city of Valdivia, the strongest earthquake in modern human history. And of course, there was a tsunami: in addition to the damage caused directly to the Chilean coast by a 20-meter wave, it reached Alaska, the shores of the Kuril Islands, Japan and overwhelmed the Hawaiian city of Hilo, carrying about 6 thousand people into the ocean. In 2014, residents of the port town of Iquique were evacuated, where a two-meter tsunami wave arrived after an 8.2 magnitude earthquake.

Acapulco, Mexico

Despite the fact that the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred in April 2014 did not cause a tsunami, the Mexican resorts of Acapulco and Zihuatanejo are under constant threat of the sudden arrival of a rogue wave. So if the ocean suddenly retreats from the shore, it’s time to run.

Tsunami statistics

What to do if “covered”

  • If you are in the coastal area and feel an earthquake, leave the shore within 15-20 minutes.
  • If you did not feel the earthquake, you can guess that a tsunami is approaching by the strong ebb of the tide.
  • While the tsunami is approaching, do not waste time under any circumstances: do not go down to look at the exposed seabed, do not film the wave. Immediately look for a hill at least 40 meters in height, preferably warning others about the danger, without causing panic.
  • If you are in a building (such as a hotel) and there is no time to find higher ground, go to the upper floors of the building and barricade the windows and doors. Find a safe place: there should be no potentially dangerous objects near you (such as cabinets that could fall or mirrors that could break).
  • If you are unable to find a hill, try to take cover behind any significant obstacle for the water (for example, a strong, tall tree or large stone) and cling to it so that you do not get carried away by the flow of water into the ocean.
  • If a tsunami finds you on the open sea (for example, you were on a ship and you were thrown into the water by a wave), do not panic, take a breath, group yourself and cover your head with your hands. Having surfaced, get rid of wet clothes as quickly as possible and find any object that you can cling to (in 2004 in Thailand, one of the survivors managed to swim out by clinging to the tail of a crocodile, and another to a python).
  • After the storm has passed, do not return to the sea for 2-3 hours: a tsunami is a series of waves.

Photo: thinkstockphotos.com, flickr.com



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