Wave To End The War

During the Second World War, New Zealand and the United States conducted secret tests of a “tsunami bomb” designed to destroy coastal cities by using underwater blasts to trigger massive tidal waves. The tests were carried out in waters around Auckland and New Caledonia and showed that the weapon was feasible and a series of 10 large offshore blasts could potentially create a 33-foot tsunami capable of inundating a small city. The plans came to light during research by New Zealand author and filmmaker, Ray Waru, who examined military files buried in the national archives. “Presumably if the atomic bomb had not worked as well as it did, we might have been tsunami-ing people,” Waru said. Waru’s book Secrets and Treasures, which consists of “stories told through the objects at Archives New Zealand”, was published in 2012.