After July 17th, 1998
The total death count varies depending on which sources you use. Most sources say that around 2200 people were killed in this event with thousands more displaced. A survey done by a local university found that "30% believed the tsunami to be caused by natural causes, 40% believed it a punishment from God, 15% thought it caused by a bomb set off by the French and the rest didn’t know."
After the initial shock of the tsunami wore off, scientists rushed into action. Right away a few things didn't line up about this catostrophic event:
- The most noticeable inconsistency was that the earthquake blamed for the tsunami was only a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which is relatively moderate. An earthquake of this size had never before produced such a large tsunami.
- The tsunami took around 20 minutes to reach the coast. This is usually too long for an undersea disturbance.
- There was a large rumble that lasted over a minute long heard which could not be explained by an earthquake and aftershocks.
These discrepancies lead to international teams of scientists to join together to come up with other possible explanations.
