Tsunamis
Wikipedia defines tsunami is a "natural phenomenon consisting of a series of waves generated when water in a lake or the sea is rapidly displaced on a massive scale." Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and large meteorites all have the potential to generate a tsunami." Tsunamis are also known as "God's Wrath" because they come without warning and are very different from high tides people are used to.
Tsunami is a Japanese word for harbor (tsu) and wave (nami). Tsunamis are also called "tidal waves" or "seismic sea waves."
Most tsunamis are caused by shock waves from an earthquake or a volcano on the ocean floor. Seismic waves are created by the earthquake or volcano activity. As the waves travel away from the center of the earthquake or volcano, they pick up momentum. When these waves are in deep water, they can be less than 3 feet high and as far as 95 miles apart. But when the waves reach shallow water near land, they gain speeds up to 500 miles per hour and be hundreds of feet high.
A tsunami can strike without any warning because the earthquake causing the large and fast waves can happen miles and miles away. In some parts of the world, scientists have developed tsunami warning systems, but after the tsunami of December 2004 we have discovered that this warning system must be set up all over the world.
On December 26, 2004 at 7:58:53 local time, the largest tsunami in recorded history took place in the Indian Ocean. The shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand, and many other countries were destroyed by this tsunami which was caused by an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Waves up to 50 feet high reached the east coast of Africa, 2,800 miles west of the earthquake's epicenter. According to the TsunamiHelp blog site, 288,000 people were killed by this tsunami and many others were hurt and lost their homes and businesses. Entire cities were totally wiped out.
The Pacific Tsunami Museum's website has a gallery of pictures showing the devastation of tsunamis. Professor Miho Aoki of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Art Department has created an animation to show how an earthquake causes large waves, known as a tsunami. Google has made a list of organizations collecting money for the relief effort for the 2004 Tsunami Disaster.
Picture courtesy of
Dave's Daily
Some other websites where you can get more information are: