The tsunami on Jan. 15 hit Santa Cruz, California, 12 hours and 12 minutes after the initial eruption in Tonga. Santa Cruz is 5,280 miles (8,528 kilometers) from Tonga, which means that the Dec. 2, 2023. A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern parts of the Philippines on Saturday, leading to tsunami warnings across the region and as far as the southern part of Japan, nearly Tsunami "Wave Train" Many people have the mistaken belief that tsunamis are single waves. They are not. Instead tsunamis are "wave trains" consisting of multiple waves. The chart on this page is a tidal gauge record from Onagawa, Japan beginning at the time of the 1960 Chile earthquake. The most common cause of a tsunami is sea floor uplift associated with an earthquake. Tsunamis are also triggered by landslides into or under the water surface, and can be generated by volcanic activity and meteorite impacts. Tsunamis range in size from inches to over a hundred feet. The results suggest that New Zealand can expect a tsunami of 16.4 feet (5 m) approximately every 77 years, with a wave of at least 49.2 feet (15 m) approximately every 580 years. Tsunamis over 3.3 Tsunami Types. There are three (3) broad types of tsunamis: Local Tsunami. This is a tsunami where its destructive effects are experienced on coasts within 100 km from the source of the tsunami. In such cases, the travel timefor the tsunami is generally less than one (1) hour. Moreover, there are three types of tsunamis based on the scene of the disaster: local, regional and remote. Local tsunamis Here, tsunami waves can reach up to 100 km from the source of origin in less than one hour. The earthquakes that caused these tsunamis are: Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1964, magnitude 9.2; Chile, 1960, magnitude 9.5; Alaska, 1946, magnitude 7.3; Puerto Rico/Mona Rift, 1918, magnitude 7.3 to 7.5; Virgin Islands, 1867, magnitude undetermined; Cascadia, 1700, magnitude 9; and Puget Sound, 900, magnitude 7.5. Map not to scale. There are two types of tsunami generation: Local tsunami and Far Field or distant tsunami. The coastal areas in the Philippines especially those facing the Pacific Ocean, South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea can be affected by tsunamis that may be generated by local earthquakes. There are three distinct types of tsunami. The type you encounter depends on the distance you are from the place where it is generated. Distant tsunami: Are generated from a long way away, such as from across the Pacific in Chile. In this case, we will have more than three hours warning time for New Zealand. 1PIuK.