Since 1410 B.C., more than 1,100 tsunamis have hit in places across the globe. A map released by NOAA puts the sources of these events on display. 

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A tsunami is a series of traveling waves that form an extremely long length and period and are usually generated by disturbances such as earthquakes. Their sources are the point and area of their origin, typically the site of the quake, volcanic eruption or landslide that displaced the waves. 

Out of the 2,100 tsunami source events cataloged in NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), the map shows over 1,100 confirmed events. According to NOAA, their global distribution is 70 percent Pacific Ocean, 15 percent Mediterranean Sea, 8 percent Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, 6 percent Indian Ocean and 1 percent Black Sea. 

Most of the tsunamis recorded, 83 percent, were caused by earthquakes, or quakes that caused landslides. The remaining events were triggered by volcanic eruptions, 6 percent, landslides, 3 percent, or unknown sources, 2 percent. 

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The data also breaks the data down into tsunamis that caused more than 2,000 deaths and tsunamis that caused deaths from a distance more than 621 miles (1,000 km) from its source. 

According to the map, between 1975 and 2011 there were 39 local or regional tsunamis that caused deaths and property damage. Twenty-six of these were in the Pacific and its adjacent seas.

The NGDC Historical Tsunami Database is continuously updated and reviewed for accuracy. 

Check out the map above to see the latest tsunami sources map. 

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