The yellow mark illustrates the maximum height the wave reached as it washed over the headland. But, when the waves reach the beach they are incredibly high and wash way inland causing major damage and loss of life. Well, close up shots of tsunamis actually happening are pretty rare and hard to get, as you can imagine.
Most people turn and run for the hills.
Killer Earthquake Anyway, what happened at Lituya was movement along the fault that runs from left to right in the above picture. Pretty awesome shaker. The picture at left gives you a closer view of the damage to the headland that the tidal waves caused. There were three fishing boats anchored at the mouth of Lituya Bay on the day the awesome waves happened. That's the main reason we know it happened.