Tsunami could swamp Cornwall, scientists warn They are calling for an early warning system to alert bathers and coastal dwellers, similar to the sort of technology used across Asia and America. Paul Netherton, assistant chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police and LRF chairman, said other countries have suffered by failing to plan ahead. He said: "There has not been a tsunami for more than 250 years and hopefully we won't see one for another 250. But after seeing the devastation in Japan and Thailand we have to ask the question of the scientific community - what and where would be the impact, is it likely and, if it is, should we plan for it? A lot of areas would cope but in others it would cause a big problem. We have to consider whether we do anything differently than we do now for severe weather events. Tsunami are different - you don't know they are coming and the water keeps coming and coming. Britain was last hit by a tsunami in 1755, the year of the Lisbon earthquake, the meeting in Bristol was told. The LRF told scientists, academics, Met Office chiefs and government officials the fast-moving wall of water could strike the far west of Britain within four to six hours. Other parts of Europe, including France, Spain and Portugal, have already undertaken large scientific studies to model the effect of a tsunami. Work has also already been done to predict the catastrophic impact that would be caused should a massive slab of rock twice the volume of the Isle of Man break away from the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, and smash into the Atlantic Ocean. The resulting tsunami, higher than Nelson's Column and faster than a jet aircraft, would devastate the eastern seaboard of America and inundate much of southern Britain. The United States and Canada are among countries who have initiated early warning systems but the UK has no buoys which could detect a sudden surge of water. In the event of an earthquake in the Atlantic, the public would currently rely on the British Geological Survey to register the quake and the arrival of a wave in Portugal. But Neil Hamlyn, LRF co-ordinator in Devon and Cornwall, admitted the risk of the tsunami was slim. He said: "We would have to get a lot of people off the beaches and need to know how we do it. We might have to evacuate people much further inland with rest shelters. This is just about the risk assessment - the likelihood and impact it will have. We think more work needs to be done here but we don't want to spend a lot of time on something if it is not going to happen. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake almost totally destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas and had a magnitude in the range of 8.5 on the richter scale. Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon alone between 10,000 and 100,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.