13 August 1868 – Arica, Peru (now part of Chile) No deaths were recorded, unless you count the six cows lost by one unfortunate Oahu farmer, who was left cursing an event that had occurred more than 3,000 miles away. The volcanic Russian peninsula was near the epicentre of the quake, but it was the Hawaiian islands that took the brunt of the tsunami that caused a million dollars' worth of damage as waves scoured the coasts, ripping boats from their moorings and, in Honolulu harbour, lifting a cement barge before throwing it down on to a freighter. Some the world's poorest communities lost more than 60% of their fishing and industrial infrastructure. With many of the victims' bodies missing, the eventual death toll took a month to establish. Indonesia was the worst affected with an estimated 170,000 of the nearly 230,000 dead. The deadliest tsunami in history was felt in 14 countries across Asia and east Africa, triggered by a "megathrust" as the Indian tectonic plate was forced beneath the Burmese plate. 26 December 2004 – Off the west coast of northern Sumatra The massive water displacement was felt as far away as the Louisiana Gulf coast and registered on tidal gauges in Puerto Rico. The resulting tsunami reached heights of 67 metres as it swept into the shallow Valdez inlet and was responsible for most of the 128 deaths and $311m worth of damage. The Gulf of Alaska was devastated by the Prince William Sound earthquake that caused landslides in Anchorage and raised parts of outlying islands by as much as 11 metres. 28 March 1964 – Prince William Sound, Alaska A day later Volcán Puyehue in Chile's lake district spewed ash 6,000m into the air in an eruption that lasted for several weeks. The port of Puerto Saavedra was destroyed in the ensuing tsunami, which caused $550m worth of damage in Chile and killed a further 170 people as five-metre waves hit the coasts of Japan and the Philippines. The world's most powerful earthquake left 4,485 people dead and injured and 2 million homeless after it struck southern Chile in 1960.
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