Massive Alaska megatsunami was second largest ever recorded

A massive 'megatsunami' wave created when part of an Alaskan mountain crumbled into the sea is the second tallest ever recorded – and a reminder of the risks posed by melting glaciers, say scientists.Last summer a giant wave swept through a remote fjord in southeast Alaska leaving destruction in its wake.The event went largely unreported at the time, but a new scientific analysis shows tiny earthquakes triggered a massive landslide.An incredible 64 million cubic metres of rock – the equivalent of 24 Great Pyramids - splashed into the water below. The sheer power of that amount of rock plunging into the fjord in under a minute created a gigantic wave almost 500 metres tall.Only the time it happened – in the early hours of the morning – prevented tourist cruise ships being caught up in the devastation, say the researchers.Dr Bretwood Higman, an Alaskan geologist, who saw for himself the damage at Tracy Arm Fjord, said it was "a close call"."We know that there were people that were very nearly in the wrong place," he said. 'I'm quite terrified that we're not going to be so lucky in the future."