Tsunamis are much less likely to occur in the Atlantic than in the Indian or Pacific Oceans, but Bermuda could still face a massive tidal surge like the one that hit Southeast Asia and East Africa.

According to US geologists and oceanographers, tsunamis have happened in the past in the Atlantic and will happen again.

Dr. George Maul, professor of oceanography at the Florida Institute of Technology said in an article on the Internet: ?The tsunami risk in the Pacific is significantly higher, but about one-fourth of the earth?s tsunamis occur in the Atlantic Ocean. Most people aren?t even aware of that,? he said.

Mark Swanson, a professor of geology at the University of Southern Maine, said the Atlantic does not have the sort of earthquake activity that could cause such massive waves.

The Atlantic has a zone where one plate of the Earth?s crust sinks under another as they collide, but it is small and not capable of creating the massive walls of water that such zones in the Pacific and Indian oceans can.

Researchers in Seattle in the US are working to develop a new forecasting system to better protect coastal communities from disasters like the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck near Indonesia on Sunday.

The aim is to have a tsunami prediction in 15 minutes or less and the forecasting system could be tested within a year.

There was no warning system in the Indian Ocean and there is currently none in the Atlantic either.

Dr. Maul said they were currently building a rudimentary one for the Caribbean, US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. However for the main Atlantic Ocean, there is currently no such device or plans to install one.

He said more research would be needed on questions of whether the East Coast of the United States was at risk.

?Even with a warning system, educating the public about what to do if the warning is sounded is important,? he said.

In Puerto Rico, signs all along the beach front inform people when to leave and where to go and in Hawaii bullhorns have been put on beaches to warn people to leave the beaches should a tsunami hit.

The Internet is literally crawling with speculation as to the dangers of a tsunami to the East Coast of the United States and ultimately also to Bermuda.

Scientists have warned that an eruption of the remaining active volcano on Las Palmas in the Canary Islands could trigger a ?mega-tsunami?.

Up to half a trillion tons of rock could drop into the sea, sending a giant tidal wave racing across the Atlantic Ocean towards both Bermuda and the United States at a speed of up to 720 kilometres an hour.

According to www.newsmedianews.com, scientists estimate the wave will be over 650 metres high and its ?crest? will stretch from 30 to 40 kilometres or more.

This huge wall of water is capable of destroying every single coastline city on the Eastern Shore of the US and could cause similar destruction for up to 20 miles or more inland.

The last eruption of Las Palmas was in 1942 and on average the volcano has erupted every two centuries.