A professor?s claims that Bermuda should fear giant tidal waves has ?no credibility? according to the Tsunami Society.

Geology professor Bill McGuire issued the warning recently in London and interviewed by Mid-Ocean News. He claimed giant tidal waves ? known as tsunamis ? were a severe threat to Bermuda.

He said a large part of a Canary Islands would fall off with tidal waves crashing into Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and North America.

?When one of these (waves) comes in, it keeps coming for ten to 15 minutes. It?s like a huge wall of water that keeps on coming,? Prof. McGuire said.

However, George Curtis of the Tsunami Society downplayed fears when contacted this week. ?The only credibility (to this theory) is that there might be an earthquake, but even if it is a gigantic one and a piece of the island falls it not going to produce any kind of tidal wave.?

Mr. Curtis is also a researcher at the University of Hawaii. He said there would be too little force in too much water for large waves to reach Bermuda.

?Hydrological models, tested on lakes in Switzerland, observe when tsunamis originate from small sources and even very violent ones the waves do not go very far,? Mr. Curtis said.

Bermuda faced a ?negligible chance to have a hazardous wave,? he said.

That flies in the face of Prof. McGuire?s claim that nine to 12 hours after collapse, waves travelling at 560mph and 20 to 50 metres high will cross 4,000 miles of ocean to crash into Caribbean Islands and the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada.

Prof. McGuire, is director of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre at University College, London.