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1906 Hong Kong Tsunami?

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  1. #11

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  2. #12

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    wow but its the first I heard of it!

    but i also didnt know earthquakes hit here until the one 5 or 6 years ago!

    glad I got a place on top of a hill.......


  3. #13

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    Thanks vj and Mat. Heaps of info if you
    1906 typhoon hong kong - Google 搜尋


  4. #14

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    Maybe I'm being pedantic but as far as I'm aware a tsunami is caused by water being displaced when an earthquake changes underwater sealevels, a storm surge from a typhoon is, well, a storm surge.

    Please feel free to correct me.

    Watercooler and chingleutsch like this.

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    you may call it potato
    That would be odd when I can call it, correctly, a storm surge.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by bryant.english:
    That would be odd when I can call it, correctly, a storm surge.
    Then stop calling it fishy!
    What the people saw was a big-ass-wall of water that caused big-time destruction...Most people wouldn't make the distinction between a tsunami or a storm surge.
    Mat likes this.

  7. #17

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    HC, yeah but up there in the NT in a small village, BE resists. He is the Obelix of Tuen Mun, a real force of nature....In 1906, (yes he is quite old) when he saw the wave approaching, he ran home, pick up his board and went for a few slides.

    That's how they do it in the NT.


  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    Then stop calling it fishy!
    What the people saw was a big-ass-wall of water that caused big-time destruction...Most people wouldn't make the distinction between a tsunami or a storm surge.
    I will have to agree with Bryant on this one. Tsunami usually refer to abrupt change in the vertical displacement of water caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides or meteoric impact. Storm surge is caused in part by the low pressure system at the center of the storm pulling the sea water upwards slightly but is mainly caused by the force of the wind pushing the seawater towards land. Using the proper term is important.

    This matters because in a storm surge, it is not an isolated event but is accompanied by pounding wind and rain. Whereas in a tsunami there may be no warning apart from an abruptly unusual low tide exposing seabed normally covered by water. Emergency planning & response will therefore change accordingly. So people will make a distinction between a storm surge and a tsunami.
    Last edited by Watercooler; 08-02-2012 at 11:55 AM.

  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    Then stop calling it fishy!
    What the people saw was a big-ass-wall of water that caused big-time destruction...Most people wouldn't make the distinction between a tsunami or a storm surge.
    HC, if I'd have been In Causeway Bay in 1906 on September 18 I probably wouldn't have known the difference or cared, yes.
    comes for you
    Over a hundred years have passed now and I think we can safely say now, in retrospect, that it was a storm surge! I'm pretty sure that now I could tell the difference in real time......big ass wall of water coming towards me + no storm = probable tsunami, esp. if preceded by earthquake,

    Same but during storm and no earthquake = probable storm surge.

    SO, next time a bis ass wall of water Coombsy, you'll die, but you'll die knowing what to call that which killed you....hope that helps

  10. #20

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    Also, for those who want to know about the chance of a tsunami strike on Hong Kong, it is remote but not impossible:

    Tsunami risk for Hong Kong and Macao - environment - 27 August 2007 - New Scientist

    Hong Kong and Macao are enormous, sprawling economic centres perched on the coast. And both stand a 10 per cent chance of being hit by a serious tsunami in the next century, warn geophysicists. The warning follows a new assessment of how earthquakes along the nearby Manila trench could radiate tsunami waves across the South China Sea.

    Also grab a copy of the current edition of National Geographic magazine, they have an article on tsunamis which also mention the manila trench and it's risk to Hong Kong.

    For the academically inclined:

    http://www.earthobservatory.sg/downl...megathrust.pdf

    Last edited by Watercooler; 08-02-2012 at 12:05 PM.