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In May 1960, Chile was rocked by the biggest earthquake ever recorded.

It registered 9.5 on the Richter scale and Batemans Bay felt the effects a few days later when a tsunami caused water to spill over onto roads and damaged oyster farms.

Last month’s tsunami warning for Australia’s east coast was also sparked by an earthquake in Chile.

Local authorities, such as the State Emergency Service and local surf lifesavers, advised people to stay away from the waterfront. However, Far South Coast Surf Life Saving support officer Tony Dale said some people didn’t follow the advice and stayed on the waterfront to try and watch the possible tsunami.

While Mr Dale hoped the information about a past tsunami actually hitting the Bay showed that it could happen, he didn’t think people would take it seriously until it was too late.

“Until one actually hits, they will think ‘it won’t happen to me’,” he said.

SES emergency risk management director Steve Opper said it was pointless for people to flock to the water’s edge to see a tsunami because, if there were one, no one would notice until it was too late.

“Once it gets inside the Bay you might see something, but it’s not a good place to watch it,” he said.

“It’s really a dumb thing to do. How do we convince people it is a risk worth taking notice of? People think it’s a once in a lifetime chance to see a tsunami, but it might be their last as well. Why take the risk?”

He said the Bay experienced the effects from the 1960 tidal wave more because the earthquake in Chile was about 30 times stronger than the one in February, even though they differed by just 0.7 on the Richter scale.

Batemans Bay identity Robin Innes was living upstairs at The Boatshed in 1960, when the tsunami, then known as a tidal surge, hit the Bay. At the time, The Boatshed was built over the water. Since then the land around it has since filled in.

The Moruya Examiner reported on May 27, 1960, that the tidal wave killed oysters, tumbled over Wharf Street, and even went up the river as far as Nelligen, where it sent a ferry aground.

Ms Innes said it was a combination of a king-tide and the surge that caused the water to flood the road and completely surround her home.

“It was all natural dispersion, we didn’t get an actual wave,” she said.

Four hours after it flooded, she said all the water had gone.

“What’s there to be afraid of?” she said.

The Boatshed was operating as a boating hire service in 1960, and Ms Innes said she remembered her cousin was out on the water at the time of impact.

“My cousin was out fishing at the time and he suddenly realised the tide had gone out when it wasn’t supposed to. And then it all just came rushing back in.”

She said if it weren’t for her cousin’s story, Ms Innes wouldn’t have known it was a tidal surge.

“I just thought it was a lot of water coming down the river,” she said.

Bay labelled a ‘hotspot’

Batemans Bay has been labelled as one of the hotspots if a tsunami was to hit Australia, and SES emergency risk management director Steve Opper said people needed to be wary of the dangers this posed.

“Essentially there are quite a few places on the NSW Coast that are more vulnerable, and it’s got to do with how close you are to sea level, and how flat the land is that is adjacent to the sea,” Mr Opper said.

“Some shapes of bays can magnify a tsunami.”

In Batemans Bay, its v-shape with a narrow end would magnify the impact of a tsunami.

Mr Opper said there were different types of tsunamis, depending on whether the earthquake causes the ocean floor to be pushed up or pulled down.

“A tsunami is like a big pulse of energy trapped in water. Once it’s started it can travel in water for 900km/h and it just keeps travelling.”

He said, even after the initial impact of an earthquake, the energy pulse can be bouncing around the ocean for days.

If a tsunami was to hit, it wouldn’t necessarily come as a large wall of water.