What are some of the largest historical tsunamis?
Destructive tsunamis have occurred in all of the world’s oceans and seas. In the last half of the 20th Century, Pacific-wide, destructive tsunamis occurred in 1946, 1952, 1957, 1960, and 1964. (Many more tsunamis in inland seas around the periphery of the Pacific, where extremely destructive locally and claimed thousands of lives. Such localized tsunamis occurred in 1975, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2001. The 1 April 1946 Aleutian Earthquake and Tsunami One of the most destructive Pacific-wide tsunamis was generated by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake near Unimak Island in Alaska’s Aleutian Island Chain. A huge wave of 35 meters destroyed completely the U.S. Coast Guard’s Scotch Cap lighthouse on Unimak and killed all five of its occupants. The lighthouse was a steel-reinforced concrete structure standing about 30 meters above sea level. Without warning, destructive tsunami waves reached the Hawaiian Islands, five hours later, causing considerable damage and loss of life. Th
