The great tsunami in Richard Bay, Alaska, USA
Richard Bay on the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean at the southern tip of Alaska is a small bay with a depth of less than 11 km and a maximum width of 3.2 km. At 10:00 pm on July 9, 1958, the largest tsunami in history occurred, with huge waves reaching 525 m. Wherever the tsunami struck, dense forests, thick grass and soil were swept away. The earth's surface became bare and desolate, and even the embracing trees were twisted from their roots. The largest tsunami in history was caused by a sudden movement of the Fuyawei fault in the depths of Richard Bay around 10 pm on July 9, which triggered a landslide on the cliff at the end of the Bay and a large number of rocks plunged into the sea.
The great tsunami in Chile
On May 22, 1960, at 03:12 pm, a strong earthquake of magnitude 8.6 occurred along the Pacific coast in central Chile, causing a decline in the seabed , then leading to a great tsunami. Waves of up to 25m pushed a near-vertical wall of water towards the shore and then back out to sea, back and forth several times, sweeping away countless houses in coastal areas, destroying docks, pushing ships ashore and killing 1,000 people. Meanwhile, waves traversed the Pacific at 650 km/h. Waves were recorded at various heights as follows: in Hawaii Islands was 10.5m, Oceania was 6 to 9m, Japan and the former Soviet Union were 6.5m, the United States was 3.5m, Aleutian Islands was 3m, New Zealand was 2m, the rest of the Pacific was 1 to1.5m. This is a relatively complete tsunami recorded in recent years, also the most harmful tsunami in the world due to the sharp decline of the seabed.
Although the local people had been warned of the tsunami 5 hours in advance, when the tsunami wave arrived at Harbor Heiro on the west coast of the Hawaiian Islands after 15 hours. The 10-meter- high wave caused great damage to the downtown area, breaking the breakwater, flooding about 2 k㎡ of land and almost completely destroying a large part of the downtown area of helo port, cars, houses and machines were in ruins, causing 61 deaths and 282 injuries.
The waves continued to move westward for about 8 hours, reaching Japan, 15,000 km away from Chile, scouring the Pacific coast of Honshu and Hokkaido, destroying harbors and wharf facilities. In Iwate County, the waves pushed the big fishing boats up to a wharf 2.4m above sea level and fell between the ruins of houses 46 m above sea level. Only along the coast of Sanriku, 119 people were killed, 20 were missing, hundreds of homes were washed away or destroyed, and 2,830 homes were displaced. A total of 800 people were killed by the tsunami and 150,000 people were homeless in Japan. In Kamchatka, the former Soviet Union, for the first time since records began, the area was affected by tsunamis caused by earthquakes in the southern hemisphere.
The tsunami disturbed the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean and did not calm down until a week later. It could be seen that the tsunami had a wide range of impact and great harm, which is really rare.
The great tsunami in Valdez Bay, Alaska, USA
On March 28, 1964, a large tsunami occurred in the Valdez Bay in southern Alaska, USA. The tsunami wave in the Bay reached more than 30 m. At the top of the bay, when the wave crest rolled back, the huge wave reached more than 50 m, more than 20 m when arrived at Kodiak Island. The reason of the tsunami was the 8.4 magnitude earthquake caused by fault activity in Alaska on the evening of March 27. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America, causing shoreline changes and massive undersea movement, which triggered the tsunami. Alaska was the worst hit country with more than 130 people killed and property losses of about $540 million. The tsunami affected the Pacific coast of the Americas, Hawaii and Japan, and even the Antarctic with varying degrees of damage. The coastal town of California in the United States was almost completely destroyed by 9 m waves.
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