Britain’s nuclear power stations and coastal towns ‘at major risk from TSUNAMIS because of undersea landslides’
COASTAL towns and nuclear power plants in Britain face a serious risk of being hit by tsunamis, experts have warned.
Researchers have found that the UK has previously been hit by more of the giant ocean waves than initially thought - with at least one or more being 60ft high.
Professor Peter Talling, a Durham University marine geologist who led the research, said: "We believe the government should consider adding tsunamis to the National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies."
It was originally thought that tsunamis were caused only by earthquakes which are rare in Britain.
However they can also be triggered by underwater landslides.
These events have taken place at least six times in the north of the UK in the past 20,000 years, scientists say.
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An underwater landslide sees billions of tons of mud break away from the sea bed, tumbling downwards.
The rare event sucks the overlying water along with it, and creates a "hole" in the sea above.
Because of this, water then fills the void and creates a massive wave.
The warning, reported in comes after an earthquake in 2011 off Japan killed 16,000 people when a huge 130ft wave hit, destroying Fukushima nuclear power station along the way.
And in 2004 an earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused a tsunami which killed 230,000.
Professor David Tappin of the British Geological Survey said knowing more about how disasters happen is crucial to national security.
He said: "If you plan for such events before you start building, you can protect against them."
Ian Lisk, a scientist at the Met Office who chairs the Natural Hazards Partnership, said that experts have submitted the new information about tsunamis to the Cabinet Office.
This was done, he said, "as part of the UK national risk assessment process".
The term tsunami means "big wave in the port" in Japanese – it was coined by fishermen after they returned from sea to find their villages have been devastated by a giant wave they had not seen on the sea.