MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sumatra Tsunami arrived to the Falklands?

Did Fitzroy farm manager Alan Eagle see a ripple from the Sumatra Tsunami on Sunday evening? It seems possible that the effect of the Boxing Day Asian Earthquake may have been noticed here in a small creek at the East Falkland settlement.

Alan says he was at the small inlet behind the Big House, called Shallow Cove, and was about to try his luck at fishing, when a mass of water whizzed through Port Fitzroy and up the creek, raising the water level by about a metre. He describes the water as being black from the mud that had been stirred up with the level being pushed up over the stream's banks.

After screaming about sixty metres up the inlet, the water then slowly drained back towards the sea, with the entire phenomenon lasting about five minutes.

Examining the ground afterwards Alan discovered many small fish, which had been washed onto the land.

He says the sight was awesome and unlike anything he's ever seen before.

Stanley resident, Mike Harris, who visited the scene on Monday to take some photos, says that the cove is facing the right direction to have been affected. Explaining that the timings would also be right for it to have been a ripple from the tsunami. He says that the small creek could have had a magnifying effect on the ripple allowing it to be more easily noticed.

Dr David Booth from the British Geological Survey says they picked up vibrations with their instruments about five thousand miles away in the UK. Saying it was the largest they have seen regarding displacement in instruments. Adding, "The waves generated from the tsunami would have travelled all around the world." (FIBS)