Have You Faced A Tsunami In Your Life?

Posted by Dane Masters

October 9, 2008

by Dane Masters

“The Great Wave” or “The Breaking Wave off Kanagawa” was made famous by the renowned artist, Hokusai, in the 1800s. The wood block painting showed puny humans in swift boats called oshoiokuribune, suspended in the air, inert, as they try to tackle this all-powerful magnificent wave! The tsunami itself is larger than even the monumental Mt. Fujiyama! The wave almost destroys the humans and indicates how powerless one can be against this force of nature. Few humans have been unlucky enough to experience this tragedy, fortunately.

The daunting force is strikingly beautiful in Hokusai’s work, but in actuality is not regarded so pretty by those impacted by its terror, its power, and its suddenness.

WHAT SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT IT?

In scientific terms, a tsunami, also known as a seismic sea wave and not to be confused with the term “tidal wave” (which is just normal wave activity), occurs when an undersea earthquake (NOT the tides) triggers the “sudden dropping or rising of a section of the sea floor,” subsequently creating one or more abnormally huge waves. Other intense seismic activity can cause a tsunami, such as undersea landslides.

SOME GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

The tsunami is referred to as “harbor wave” by the Japanese. Houghton Mifflin’s Geology Link is more specific. what it says is that this wave moves very fast, at the rate of 250 kilometers per hour and lasts for a few days. It is about 30 meters in height and 200 kilometers long.

THE ASIAN TSUNAMI

There was a tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004. It is also referred to as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. Starting north of Simeiulue Island, it carried on to the coastal area of South India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, even reaching Port Elizabeth which was far away in South Africa, and six more countries. So the tsunami had traveled 8,000 miles! The waves rose to about 100 feet in height and destroyed numerous lives (around 283,100) and property worth millions. Shops, businesses and industries ground to a halt.

WARNING SIGNALS FOR ADVANCE PROTECTION MEASURES

Opinions vary, of course, on what could have been done in those fifteen or thirty minutes before the 2004 disaster. One expert notes that while earthquakes cannot be predicted, per se, they can be “pinpointed,” and with the “appropriate equipment in place” and an advanced warning system, those stunned into immobility might have been able to temporarily relocate in advance.

Watchdog stations the world over do exist (and have for almost fifty years in some instances), and might help to prevent maybe not the devastation but at least the deaths. Such stations exist in Alaska, at the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (ATWC), located in Palmer, Alaska; at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), located in Honolulu, Hawaii; and tsunami protection plans exist in many locations, such as the Provincial Emergency Program of British Columbia, which advances guidelines for protecting against a tsunami and posts Tsunami Hazard Zone signs accordingly.

About the Author:

Dane Masters is an accomplished niche website developer and author. for more about afro asian short stories, please visit jobs that require travel for current articles and discussions.

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