People from the village of Nuugaatsiaq have been ordered to evacuate their homes and seek higher ground, after a tsunami struck the coast of Greenland on Sunday.
Four people are missing after a tsunami hit Greenland’s west coast, police have confirmed. The tsunami has resulted in at least 4 people going missing and 11 homes being swept away.
Earthquake-report.com reports: At the moment of the tsunami 101 people lived in Nuugaatsiaq. 23 people are still in the village, the rest has been evacuated to Uummannaq.
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Although we have no registered earthquake in the area, the Danish seismological service GEUS has confirmed to the Danish press that a M4.0 earthquake occurred in Greenland. Several villages have been inundated by the water. One of them the village of Nuugaatsiaq (see picture) 30 km south of the epicenter of the M4 earthquake.
The Danish police gives only limited information as they are trying to find out what exactly happened and how many villages sustained damage.
Shortly after the news reached Denmark, the authorities have requested the population to go for higher ground.
Greenland had similar tsunamis in the past. They were often caused by land- or seaslides.
Except for the material damage, there is no news of injuries or fatalities but nothing can be excluded at the moment.
The Greenland coast is sparsely populated.
The video below shows another wave of water swelling into the village. Although the video does not give additional details, we believe that this swelling is not the destructive tsunami. the hurling sounds of animals is from the huskies who are used by the Greenlanders for hunting. As per my earlier visit to Ittoqotoormit, Greenland i remember that these huskies are fixed to anchors, so it would not surprise me that some dogs may have been killed by the water too.
https://youtu.be/p7xBV1oiI4Y
The Google Earth map below shows the steep cliffs in the surrounding sounds. Additionally the village of Nuugaatsiaq is located on a plateau with steep cliffs in the background.
The population of the village of Nuugaatsiaq (2010 census 84 inhabitants) have now all been evacuated to the town of Uummannaq (1200 inhabitants) as the authorities do fear for aftershocks who can generate additional land- or seaslides.
The probable epicenter location of the earthquake in on the below photo (we projected 30 km North of Nuugaatsiaq on the map). The Danish seismological service GEUS had the data but is probably NOT working on a Sunday as we cannot gather more precise information or news in their website!
