Lʹaléa tsunami en Polynésie française : synthèse des observations et des mesures

Since 1837, 15 tsunamis in French Polynesia have been reported, 11 generated damage. The two last major Pacific-wide tsunamis, 1946 Aleutian and 1960 Chilean, generated damage in most of the archipelagos. Only one in 1999 was generated by a local source, a coastal cliff failure on Fatu-Hiva Island. Since 1965, no earthquake magnitude was greater than 8.4 and, consequently, no ocean-wide tsunami of large amplitude has crossed the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, the four tide gauge installed in French Polynesia recorded 33 distinct tsunamis of amplitude from several centimetres to 1.6 m, generated by earthquakes of magnitude between 7.3 and 8.4, two of them damageable in Marquesas bays. To cite this article: F. Schindelé et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).