The massive magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck near the east coast of Honshu, Japan's main island, at 2:46 P.M. local time and unleashed a fierce tsunami claiming hundreds of lives is already being felt as far away as the west coast of North America, about 8,000 kilometers away. Much of this has to do with the depth of the ocean that the tsunamis waves traversed as well as the sheer size of the quake, which was the strongest recorded in Japan's history.
The tsunami hit Hawaii about seven hours after it washed away entire towns along Japan's northern coast. Whereas the waves that struck Japan have been reported as high as seven meters, Hawaii was spared serious damage. Still, the threat of the tsunami closed ports in Honolulu and Guam and led to warnings, watches and coastal evacuations in 20 countries, including the U.S., Indonesia and Chile.
To read the full, original article click on this link: How Does an Earthquake Trigger Tsunamis Thousands of Kilometers Away?: Scientific American
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