What are Tsunamis?

   

What are Tsunamis?

  Tsunamis are enormous walls of waves that occur from an underwater disturbance. Earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions can cause tsunamis. They also go by seismic sea waves, and can travel over 100 miles per hour in the ocean.
   Underwater earthquakes are one of the main reasons for causing tsunamis. They typically occur between tectonic plates which causes the water to move up and down. While the water is moving up and down, it displaces water, and that water becomes a tsunami wave. Then, the closer the waves get to land, the larger they get.

    Volcano eruptions can create enough force to lift up the water and cause tsunami waves.

Undersea landslides can also cause tsunamis. Landslides underwater can generate tsunami waves when the water tries to find a stable position.

   Damage: 

  The size of the tsunami and the size of the event that caused the tsunami depends on how much damage there will be. Small tsunami waves happen almost everyday. They can be mistaken as a large tide wave, but they do not cause as much destruction as a bigger tsunami wave would. Small tsunami waves are often too far away from the shore, or too small in general that they often do little to no damage when they hit the shore.

  Even though some tsunamis start off small they could still grow larger as they approach the shoreline. When they become large in height, they attack coastlines. Tsunamis can damage property and loss of life; however, it is not the wave that causes most of the damage. Most of the damage is responsible from the mass of water behind the wave front. All of the power behind the waves causes the devastation and loss of life.
  Click this link for a better understanding of how tsunamis form:
                                                            https://youtu.be/Wx9vPv-T51I

  

Taking Cover:

  When a tsunami occurs it is almost impossible to escape from it. Unfortunately, thousands of people are killed by tsunamis since they happen so fast. There is very little warning before a tsunami strikes. When tsunamis do occur you have hardly anytime to take cover. People who live close or who live along the shoreline have no time to escape. The powerful force from the tsunami can drown citizens. Collapsing buildings, explosions, and debris can also cause death.
  In some cases people are able to take cover from a tsunami. To escape a tsunami, try to get upward about 100 feet above sea level. The further you get from a tsunami the better off you are.
  Watch this video for an example on what tsunamis look like and what they can do to property and life: https://youtu.be/ybBUwDgwIpM

  Warning Systems:

  Tsunami warning systems (TWS) are used to detect tsunamis in advance and issue warnings out to the public to prevent loss of life and damage. International and Regional are the two types of tsunami warning systems. Both of these systems function when seismic alerts are used to instigate the watches and warnings. Tide gauges and buoys are used to verify a tsunami. If an earthquake had currently occurred close to a body of water, then warning systems would be able to watch for a possible tsunami, and warn the public. 

Diagram showing the process of a warning system.