The Guardian wrote about possible tsunamis here in southern Spain. The article starts by describing the tsunami readiness of Atlantic-facing town, Chipiona, near Cádiz, where the possibility of a tsunami is clearly signposted. Chipiona became Spain’s first “tsunami ready” community in 2024, and is one of only a handful in the north-east Atlantic and Mediterranean region.
Here, says the Guardian, “Evacuation routes are marked. Sirens are installed. And each November, at the hour that the huge Lisbon earthquake struck in 1755, schoolchildren calmly walk designated routes inland in a town-wide drill.”
It goes onto ask why there is no sense of urgency about tsumanis in Málaga. While recognising that, “the potential size of a tsunami along the Mediterranean coast is smaller”, the article acknowledges that “earthquakes are more frequent and closer to shore”, than on the Atlantic coast. It quotes Jorge Macías, a tsunami modeller at the University of Málaga, who describes the risk as “low probability but high impact” – the impact being greater because of decades of urban development close to the beach: “dune systems that once absorbed storm energy were urbanised. Promenades fixed shorelines in place.”
Worth a read. But don’t get too scared. “Preparedness”, concludes the article, “is not about predicting the day and time. It is about choosing not to be surprised when nature eventually repeats what history and geology say it will”.
Read the Guardian article here.
Picture above: tsunami notice along the Chilean coast, where escape routes are clearly defined