A tide gauge off the shore of Coquimbo, a Chilean seaside city less than 100 miles from the epicenter of tonight's 8.3 moment magnitude earthquake, has logged wave heights in excess of 14 feet. This comes about 90 minutes after the quake struck at 7:54pm local time.
NOAA's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has predicted wave heights exceeding 36 feet along the Chilean coast, and smaller events elsewhere in the Pacific. Outside of Chile, French Polynesia, a group of over 100 islands in the middle of the south Pacific, is in the most danger. There, NOAA warns of tsunami waves from three to nine feet.
That may not sound like a lot, but even small tsunami waves, which have the full force of the ocean behind them, can be destructive. The agency also included smaller tsunami warnings for just about any nation that touches Pacific waters.
