Monday, June 19, 2017

Greenland Tsunami Floods Village; 4 Missing

Sean Breslin
Published: June 19,2017

Grab taken from a video shows houses close to Nuugaatsiaq, Greenland, flooded by tidal waves on June 18, 2017.
(OLINE NIELSEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Four people remain missing on the western coast of Greenland after a 4.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit the village of Nuugaatsiaq.
The surge of water struck the village late Saturday night and destroyed at least 11 homes, according to the Associated Press. Experts believe the tremor triggered a landslide into the water, which started the tsunami, the report added. Aside from Greenland's coast, no other areas were endangered by the tsunami.
"Tsunamis that are triggered by landslides tend to be very local," Allison Bent, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, told CBC. "They're not the ones that cross the ocean."
(MORE: Portugal Wildfires Kills Dozens)
Citing a local newspaper, CBC also said the four missing people were inside their home when it was swept into the sea by the tsunami. A helicopter and several boats were sent to search the area for any sign of those missing, the report added.
"It's hard to believe what happened last night," Greenland’s Prime Minister Kim Kielsen said Sunday in a Facebook post. "After the earthquake in Nuugaatsiaq we were made aware that the forces of nature can suddenly change ... what happened is tragic and my thoughts are with everyone from Nuugaatsiaq."
After the tsunami, 39 people were evacuated from Nuugaatsiaq, according to BBC.com. An unknown number of injuries were reported, and at least two other villages were impacted by the tsunami wave, the report added.
MORE: Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1990

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

No comments:

Post a Comment