Background
Used with permission of Natural Resources Canada
The North West Atlantic Ocean is not typically known for violent earthquakes, landslides or tsunami, but on November 18, 1929 the coastal areas of Newfoundland felt the destructive effects of all these natural phenomena. In the evening of that day a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Grand Banks shaking the nearby coastal settlements of Newfoundland, and being experienced as far away as the New York and Montreal. The earthquake triggered an underwater landslide, of about 200 km3 of material, that then generated a tsunami that crashed into Newfoundland and The Burin Peninsula.
Used with permission of Natural Resources Canada
Two and a half hours after the earthquake the massive wave ran up the coast as much as 27 meters or 89 feet, killing a combined 29 people, the highest death toll attributed to an earthquake event in Canada's history. The most destructive component of the November 18 event was the underwater landslide; the slide greatly amplified the tsunami headed towards the coast, causing loss of human life, and also damaged sections of several strands of transatlantic cable that had to be repaired, which represents most of the millions (in modern dollars) of cost in damages associated with the event.
