By SETH BORENSTEIN (AP)
WASHINGTON — Because of a lethal combination of geology and geography, the people of American Samoa didn't stand much of a chance. Almost every condition that triggers bad tsunamis was in place this time, generating waves that raced toward the island territory at speeds approaching 530 mph, or as fast as a 747 jumbo jet. And there was almost nothing to slow the water down.
It all started with a type of earthquake that tends to generate strong tsunamis because of the angle at which the ground breaks. Also, the quake was extremely powerful, with a magnitude of 8.0. It struck just below the ocean floor, which means very little lost energy. And it happened in deep water, which means bigger waves.
The deeper water also meant the tsunami sped along the ocean faster. American Samoa happened to be close to the epicenter, about 125 miles, and at just the right angle, with almost no shallow water to slow the speeding waves down.
Put that all together and there was less than 25 minutes, maybe as little as 13 minutes, between the ground shaking and the first tremendous waves swamping Samoa.
And it didn't help that an international computerized system, designed for relief agencies to figure out if they needed to respond, had a computer failure that caused it to pooh-pooh the tsunami's wrath initially. Full story
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