Tsunami?

There's something weird about this article: A 50 cm (yes, CENTIMETERS!) tsunami (yes, giant tidal wave, TSUNAMI!) was forecasted to hit Japan following an earhquake in the Pacific Ocean off Japan. Weird thing is, why even report this when it is only 50 centimeters? That's half a meter! That's barely 2 feet! Heck, the waves in some of the beaches in Malaysia is bigger than that!

This article can the found in The Star. Courtesy of Reuters. So I researched on it a little and found out the truth. Apparently, the article implies 50cm waves are not normal in the northern coasts of Japan, which is even weirder! I wonder why it is even reported... in lighter vein?