This destabilization is being driven by climate change: Tsunamis are becoming more likely in Alaska as hillsides, formerly reinforced by glaciers and solidly frozen ground, loosen their hold on once-stable slopes.Climate change makes land more unstable and increases the risk of landslide-caused tsunamis.

A network of state-of-the-art tsunami buoys is being deployed from New Zealand up into the Pacific to keep communities safer.Every 15 seconds the BPR records the height of the ocean above it and sends that information to the surface buoy once an hour.

NIWA hazards analyst Ryan Paulik, who led the assessment, says overall 430,000 people – or nine per cent of the population – live in the zones of which 170,000 are in red and orange zones.

For the first time the Whakatipu lake floor will be mapped to build a picture of the potential for local tsunami hazards in the future.

CLIMATE change triggered a tsunami which was twice the size of Big Ben in 2015, and experts believe these mega waves will become more common in the future as the globe continues to warm.

Melting glaciers could be triggering a ripple effect of natural disasters that culminates in massive tsunamis, according to new research. This problem is likely to be exacerbated along the icy coastlines of Greenland, Patagonia and Norway, where huge chunks of rock smashing into the water can create towering waves.

Tsunami warning: Coastal cities at risk of MEGA WAVES sparked by rising sea levels