Thing to remember about Tsunamis is they don't spread equally in all directions - you basically get two "beams" extending perpendicular to the fault...
Which is why the Tsunami from the last Kuril quake was higher in Crescent City CA than it was in Japan.
Truly remarkable to have a couplet of 8+ mag quakes so close to each other in time and space.
Which is why the Tsunami from the last Kuril quake was higher in Crescent City CA than it was in Japan.
It is best not to make generalizations like that about such a dangerous event. While what you have described has occurred before, it is really only applicable to great thrust earthquakes and even then all that you are technically saying is that the non-lateral waves to the line of the fault (which still do exist) are small *relative* to the lateral waves. Add in geography and your entire theory goes to heck. For example as I discussed above, Hilo, Hawaii and parts of Japan were devastated in 1960 while your theory would suggest that they would be some of the areas least affected. Here is a graphic that I linked earlier that shows better what both you and I are talking about for the Great Earthquake of 2004.
