The first example simulates a tsunami that occurred on the 17th of July 1998 off the coast of north eastern Papua New Guinea. The earthquake epicentre that created it was located less than 50 km from the coast. The close proximity to the coast ruled out any warning for the coastal inhabitants; one village was destroyed, nearly 3000 villagers lost their lives. The animation shows the first 2 hours of tsunami propagation. Start the animation © 2000 National Tidal Facility, reproduced by permission.

The second example simulates the tsunami of 26 december 2004 in the Indian Ocean. The earthquake epicentre that created it was located off the coast of Indonesia. The close proximity to the coast ruled out any warning for the coastal inhabitants, but loss of life in countries further afield could have been avoided if an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system would have been in place. Start the animation Animation provided by Vasily V. Titov, Associate Director, Tsunami Inundation Mapping Efforts (TIME), NOAA/PMEL - UW/JISAO, USA., reproduced by permission.

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