Four missing after tsunami strikes Greenland coast

Four people are missing after a tsunami hit Greenland's west coast, police have said. The surge of water is also reported to have swept away 11 homes in the village of Nuugaatsiaq. Police chief Bjørn Tegner Bay said he was unable to confirm whether there had been fatalities, according to KNR, Greenland's broadcasting corporation. The authorities believe a magnitude four earthquake caused the tsunami. According to the police chief, it struck off Uummannaq, a small island well above the Arctic Circle. Meteorologist Trine Dahl Jensen told Danish news agency Ritzau that for such an earthquake to hit Greenland was "not normal", as she warned of the risk of aftershocks.

Source: www.bbc.com

Video and more information

Youtube Video

I looked to see if this was posted and did not find any information on this latest event. From the article, it states this is "not normal."

I am praying that they untied those dogs before they ran

I'm pretty sure there has been no earthquake big enough anywhere near there to cause a tsunami. Therefore, my guess is it came from a calving glacier.

And from the looks of that video, that was more of a surge than a tsunami.

a reply to: TrueAmerican

I was thinking M4 was way too small of an energy release to produce a tsunami as described and was thinking about water displacement.

Was thinking rock slide but glacier would it it too.

I agree that it was unlikely caused by the earthquake.

Polar ice/water displacement would make more sense.

a reply to: TrueAmerican
The energy of a calving dissipates quite rapidly unless contained by a fjord.
Meteotsunami may be a more likely culprit.
www.express.co.uk...

Although we have no registered earthquake in the area, the Danish seismological service GEUS has confirmed to the Danish press that a M4.0 earthquake occurred in Greenland. Several villages have been inundated by the water. One of them the village of Nuugaatsiaq (see picture) 30 km south of the epicenter of the M4 earthquake.

earthquake-report.com...

So chances are, a small quake occurred, too small to be reported by USGS or EMSC, but strong enough to shake loose a piece of glacier or cause a landslide- which then hit water, causing the tsunami.

Lituya Bay comes to mind- although this was nowhere NEAR that magnitude.

Tsunamis don't have to be huge waves.

At least it cleaned up the yards. What a bunch of slobs.

The Danish are saying there was a earthquake, but apparently the GEUS doesn't work on Sundays, so we'll have to wait for more info. Checked out Earthquaketrack and it looks like this size quake isn't too abnormal for the area. Altho there haven't been any for about a year.

Not like I'm an expert or anything, but this had to be totally unexpected for the people up there and my heart goes out to them.

Update 12:40 UTC: 78 people have been evacuated from the village of Nuugaatsiaq
The Danish authorities did report that 4 people are still missing and that 2 people were seriously injured. 7 others sustained slight injuries.
11 houses haven swept in the water and are gone.
At the moment of the tsunami 101 people lived in Nuugaatsiaq. 23 people are still in the village, the rest has been evacuated to Uummannaq.
Although we have no registered earthquake in the area, the Danish seismological service GEUS has confirmed to the Danish press that a M4.0 earthquake occurred in Greenland. Several villages have been inundated by the water. One of them the village of Nuugaatsiaq (see picture) 30 km south of the epicenter of the M4 earthquake.

earthquake-report.com...

earthquaketrack.com...

Here is spectro of the event.



Got this from a post in PNW seismic Facebook group.

a reply to: mockingmay

Underwater landslide triggered by the quake.

Could these current earthquakes be somehow associated with these events?

Has anyone read state of fear by Micheal Crichton?