Since they no longer use that system in England, I’d say that it’s a stretch. But more importantly, how do you get out of fourth grade without knowing how big a meter is?
So far it seems that the Island of Juan Fernandez (Robinson Crusoe Island) 400 miles (650 km) west of Chile, got the blunt of it.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lester.ah/Tsunami#5443068199307238930
(the “after” photos start at #5)
Reports are coming from other Spanish speaking forums in Chile that tsunamis seriously damaged other coastal cities in Chile.
No, it’s 9 metres. 
It’s just an estimate anyway so just translate to yards (God help you if you can’t convert from yards to feet).
You guys are lucky. We knocked our cable down to just local channels but we do get Fox news. While there was a shot of people on a cliff high above the shoreline I had to hear the anchor repeatedly lament that those people were flaunting the danger by being in the path of the tsunami. The other Fox guy gently let her know that they weren’t in harm’s way and the Congressman from Hawaii had to explain to her why there were sailboats were out on the ocean.
Knew it was wrong when I posted it, then got distracted and neglected to edit. Gaudere’s Law strikes again.
Oh dear.
It just plowed into an island off Japan. It was almost 4 inches high.
Whew. So can we get back to worrying about the Chileans now? The reporters seem to have kind of lost sight of them in all the non-reporting about the tsunami non-impact all over the Pacific Rim.
You got me, in USA it’s meters, but in Britain it’s metres (maybe). So which English is it in? Trick question! No fair! 
Yup.
Those boats are far far safer on the sea, then in the harbor (tsunami means harbor wave). It’s when the water runs out of open ocean, that it does its damage.
Even then, a lot of people think a tsunami is a giant curling surf wave when it’s more like high tide RIGHTNOW that then sweeps pretty much everything out to sea when it ebbs. Those photos of Juan Fernandez are sobering. The befores show an active tourist harbor area. The afters show bare ground with debris scattered around. Almost NOTHING that was in that harbor area before the tsunami is still standing in one piece, from what I could see of the photos.
No, actually, “English” really is the official name of that family of units, whether they’re still used in England or not. It’s not a “stretch”, it’s the actual name.
As for getting out of fourth grade without knowing how big a meter is - back when I was in school no knowledge of metric units was required until high school science classes, and even then it was only about half of what we were doing as we learned a lot of stuff in English first then converted it to metric. It wouldn’t surprise me if some people still managed to get through school these days while remaining blissfully ignorant of the metric system.
The vast majority of times, someone not knowing how big a meter is would say “what is that in feet”. I have never, ever heard anyone else use the phrase “in English” to refer the US measurement system. First of all, since the foot-pound-second system is the default in the US, we rarely need to describe it at all. When we do, we say the English system or English units.
And that is why during the outwards leg of our Caribbean cruise 5 FEB - 14 FEB when we were transiting in 122 mile per hour winds, we had 3-5 meter [yard] seas with an occasional 7 meter/yard ‘7th wave’ that barely inconvenienced us [well we don’t get seasick… can’t vouch for others] I think the ship [Explorer of the Seas] had more issue with the wind pressure against the side of the vessel than the actual waves. She is a very stable vessel and designed to be that way. I do know they di have the stabilizers deployed at one point in time, which slowed her down from 20 knots to 18 knots for a few hours. it was fun when the Captain had her cranking at 23 knots to make up time after dawn. Wheeee! [though I am glad we did not have one or the forward facing balcony staterooms!]
Actually, those non-metric units are referred to in England, and in most places outside of North America, as the Imperial System of measurement. It’s a more accurate term, as it reflects the changes to the old English system made by the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824.
Darn librul Mexicans use too many synonyms. No wonder nobody can understand 'em.
Chile is part of Mexico, right? 
Is there any video online showing the tsunami as it struck Japan? (Or Hawaii, or California…)
I’ve gotta know what a 4-inch tsunami looks like.
Yes, it does, which is why Tidal wave is just as accurate- or just as inaccurate. Yes, Tidal Waves are not caused by tides. They do occur in tidal areas. Tsunami do not occur only in harbors.
I hate that word: I always read it as “stater rooms”.
As long as you keep in mind that this sorry state of affairs is not an universal property of the news system, but rather a big problem in the US. Other countries do have qualified reporters and journalists, foreign reporters who stay in one area for months and years to get in-depth coverage and understanding (instead of one slob being put on a plane after something has happened, who doesn’t know anything about the region, or speak the local language).
And if somebody calls themselves a science reporter/ journalist, they better have either a science education in their background, or read extensively. For example, Ranga Yogeshwar went to University and got a degree in Science before he added journalism and went to TV; Hademar Bankhofer doesn’t have medical background, but reads so extensively the different journals and abstracts and talked to so many doctors that they awarded him a honorary degree in recognition of how much benefit his laymen’s (and cheery: he’s old-style Austrian, with charm and nice manners) advices and tips on healthy life-style has done for the population.
Sorry, carry on with the main pitting, but this is a pet peeve of mine, to assume that because US journalism is mainly bad, that all journalists or TV reports are bad and not reliable.