Tidal Wave Can Do

Warning : This Is What A

boulder “ as rolled 200 yards inland, steel parking meter n?n d %Zi Z? nt t °? er ,lu i h with the ground, and all the branches °J+ a V^ e Vf- an tation up to a height of about ten feet were stripped at Hilo, Hawaii when the seismic sea wave which originated in Chile swept the Pacific last May. rnnr£^h^%!fjr e s ° me .°fthe effects mentioned in a survey of damage made by Scnpps Institution of Oceanography, and recently published.

Although the population was warned of the wave’s approach in TiJ 1 ? *° r T e ople *° reach high ground, many ignored the sirens and 60 Uves were lost in the down-town area of the city where approxi mately two square miles was devastated. survey showed that the average elevation reached by the wave after striking the Hilo foreshore was 16 ft above the normal sea level at the time.

The wave came ashore as a sheer tumbling wall of water ten feet high and it carried inland for up to three-quarters of a mile at a speed of about 20 miles an hour.

The wave was probably the largest of the century in almost every area of the eastern Pacific.

Due to the configuration of the coastline and sea bottom in the area, Hilo is particularly susceptible to damage and has in fact suffered repeated damage from these tsunamis in the past.