A tsunami is a series of waves that contain great volumes of water and energy. These waves are usually tidal waves and can be caused by a number of different factors. These factors include underwater eartquakes and explosions,landslides and the testing of nuclear weapons.Tsunamis are caused by the sudden movement of two plates underwater. This causes a sudden swell in the water and this water is displaced and this results in the tsunami. If a tsunami reaches the shore it can have devastating effects, destroying everything in its path. There have been many tsunamis in the past, such as in Alaska in 1946, Papua New Guinea in 1998 and Thailand 2004.
This is an image I got from http://www.crystalinks.com/. It shows the tsunami approaching a city in Thailand.
I got this picture from http://www.thestormtrack.com/. I t shows the tsunami approaching a beach and innocent swimmers trying to escape its wrath
In the 20th century, over 25 tsunamis occured and out of these, 80 percent occured in the Indian Ocean area. However, the worst tsunami occured in the 21st century on the 26th of December 2004. It is estimated that over 350,000 people died directly from the tsunami and over 1,000,000 people died overall. Most of the bodies were washed away or are unidentified.Nowadays, tsunamis are trying to be prevented. The are currently building a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean in case of future tsunamis. In Japan they have built 4.5m high walls to prevent the tsunamis entering the towns and cities. Many other places have built floodgates or channels to re-direct the flow of the water away from urban areas. However, the efficiency of these prevention systems are in question in the event of an emerge
In the event of a tsunami, if you live near the coast you are advised to go to a high place in your house or to the rooftops if you try to outrun the wave you will fail as it is much quicker than anyone can run. Many people in 2004 tryed to outrun the wave or went to the beach when the normally covered land became suddenly exposed, as the wave rolled in. This resulted in many more deaths.
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=a0uxDQYYsC0
I got this video from youtube. It shows the tsunami approaching the shore and shows the destuction caused by the tsunami.
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