Deadliest Tsunamis In Recorded History
When a Tsunami hits, you don’t have much change to survive. These are the deadliest tsunamis ever recorded by man…
Continuing the countdown, the tsunami at the coast of South Central Chile had a magnitude of 9.5. The other tsunamis on our list have taken more lives and have done more damage to the economy, but this particular tsunami is recorded to be of the highest magnitude, which occurred under the South China Sea and took around 40,000 lives.
1. Northern Chile, 1868
A few years after the South China tsunami, another tsunami hit the coast of Peru, (now Chile). There were two earthquakes, followed by huge waves that affected the entire Pacific Rim. The earthquakes were 51 minutes apart and the magnitude for the tsunami was recorded to be 8.5. While this may not have been the deadliest tsunami, it still is responsible for turning many African coastline cities into rubble.
2. FACT!
Did you know that if caught by a tsunami wave, it is better not to swim, but rather to grab a floating object and allow the current to carry you?
3. Tohoku Japan, 2011
Another one from the Land of the Rising Sun. This one hit the coast of north east Japan and the country is still yet recovering from it, 7 years later. The disaster struck on March 2011, and the waves were felt from Norway’s fjords all the way to Antarctica’s ice sheet.
The magnitude was high enough to reach 9 but the death toll was fairly less as compared to other tsunamis of the century. However, Japan isn’t out of the waters yet, as most of all the world’s tsunamis have occurred in Japan, scientists have gone as far as to say that the country might experience more tsunamis in the near future.
The number of casualties for Tohoku tsunami was somewhere between 18,000and 20,000. This tsunami also resulted in a energy disaster incident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, which caused a damage of worth $235 billion and still counting.
4. Krakatau Indonesia, 1883
Long before the 2004 tsunami, in another area of Indonesia, Krakatau’s volcano exploded which gave rise to yet another deadly tsunami. On precisely August 26, a few harmless explosions of the Krakatau volcano were heard and disregarded. However, on August 27, the fourth explosion was so violent and destructive that it blew away two-third of an island and neighboring volcanoes, which ultimately brought an underwater havoc that rose to the height of 37 meters above sea level. It is the most deadliest volcanic eruption ever recorded in history.
5. Lisbon, 1755
Once upon a time in the kingdom of Portugal on the holy day of All Saints Day, on November 1, 1755, a tsunami of magnitude ranging from 8.5 to 9 wiped away almost 100,000 people. Not only this, the waves were so powerful that they completely destroyed Lisbon and its surrounding areas.
The world today calls this The Great Lisbon Earthquake, as it was an earthquake followed by a tsunami; whose shocks came in 3 ruptures, with the second one being stronger and longer than the first and the third, with 15 feet high waves accompanying it that split Lisbon from the centre.
This tsunami has destroyed numerous famous art building and cathedrals, which the world would surely have praised, if they were still standing today.
6. FACT!
Did you know that Tsunamis can travel at speeds of about 500 miles or 800 kilometers an hour, almost as fast as a jet plane?
7. Messina Italy, 1908
Italy is the country that survived the second deadliest tsunami in the world, and the most deadly in Europe. The earthquake and the subsequent tsunami struck southern Italy on December 28th, 1908, at 5.00 am in the morning, their local time. The impact was so strong that it took more than 123,000 lives yet experts still debate about the magnitude which was said to be somewhere between 8.5 to 9. For almost a complete century, the cause of the tsunami was believed to be an underwater earthquake, however, in the early 21th century, some scientists and experts have started claiming that the cause was in fact a underwater landslide, that triggered the tsunami.
8. Indian Ocean, 2004
The last on our list is the most deadliest tsunami ever recorded. It’s the Indian Ocean tsunami, which occurred on December 26, 2004, in Sumatra, Indonesia. To this date, this tsunami is the biggest and the deadliest that ever struck and was caused by the second deadliest earthquake ever. The magnitude recorded was 9.3 and the waves were as high as 80 feet. An estimated $10 billion worth of damages are attributed to the disaster, with around 230,000 human victims. This tsunami also affected 11 countries, including Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.
