The Hawaiian Islands are especially vulnerable to destructive tsunamis generated by major earthquakes in the circum-Pacific Ring of Fire. Travel times (in hours) are shown for the tsunamis produced by the 1960 Concepción, Chile, earthquake (purple curves) and by the 1964 Good Friday, Valdez (Anchorage), Alaska earthquake (red curves). The 1960 tsunamis killed 61 people and caused about $24 million in damage.

"Plate tectonics and people"

URL: https://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/tsunamis.html
Last updated: 05.05.99
Contact: bhanks@usgs.gov