Deadly Tsunami Swarm Hit Haiti After Quake, Experts Say

Unusual ten-foot waves hammered the Hispaniola coast shortly after the January 12 Haiti earthquake, killing three and destroying several homes.

Though surveying damage and rescuing survivors was of utmost priority for several weeks, scientists are now starting to examine some of the side effects of the temblor, such as the tsunamis.

The waves, which averaged about ten feet (three meters) high, slammed shores along the Bay of Port-au-Prince and the southern coast of the island of Hispaniola (see map), which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

At least one wave hit the shore as far as 62 miles (100 kilometers) away from the earthquake's epicenter, near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Tsunamis are rare though not unheard of in the Caribbean—a 1946 wave in the Dominican Republic killed nearly 2,000 people, said

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