Any DUers watching GEM$NBC right now

[malaise]

That destruction in Chile is mind blowing. Clearly the coastline was hit by a tsunami. The destruction of infrastructure, in particular roads and bridges, is going to require massive government spending.

[Captain Hilts]

1. I thought the Tsunami would emanate out, away from the coast. How

does it work?

[malaise]

2. Not sure but the Galapagos islands off

Ecuador were also hit with a tsunami.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. I'm not an expert in plate tectonics by any stretch of the imagination

but if my recollection of Newtonian physics hasn't been corrupted by the ravages of age, I would say that the waves radiate outward in a circular (even spherical, until reaching the ocean surface) pattern - like ripples on a pond when a stone strikes the surface.

[Jamastiene]

4. This explains it better than anything I have found.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/5-natural-disaster-videos1.htm

You might have to click "Next Video" to get to the Tsunami video.

The water doesn't just go in one direction. It emanates from where the earthquake originated. If the earthquake is offshore, the tsunami that might be generated will hit nearby land as well as places on the other directions.

[Jamastiene]

5. Also this link:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/tsunami2.htm

[malaise]

7. Thanks for both links

:hi:

[malaise]

6. It did

GEM$NBC was just repeating that - several coastal areas were hit with massive waves. One Ferris wheel was moved inland as were boats, massive trucks and containers - unbelievable. The real damage is becoming visible now. The really good news is that this happened during the night and not when people were either at work or just leaving work as happened in Haiti.

[Warpy]

8. Pics near the bottom are of the damage the tsunami did

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/02/earthquake_in_chile.html

Reports said it was a 2 meter wave, but who knows? It had a huge amount of power, whatever height it was, and anything near the coast was smashed to bits.

On edit: example