Tsunami

What is a Tsunami? A tsunami is a series of huge waves created when a large body of water, such as the ocean is displaced. Far out to sea a ship might not noticed the beginning of a tsunami as although they are moving very fast they are extremely wide so the power is spread out. It is only when the wave gets to the coastline which is less wide, there is a big build up of water and power as the wave is being squeezed. This forces the wave onto land. It looks like an endless onrushing of water that pushes through any obstacle in its way. Most of the damage is done by the mass of the water behind the first wave; the weight of the water is enough to crush anything in its path. Buildings are reduced to their foundations and objects such as ships can be carried many kilometers inland. There are many reasons for tsunamis such as, Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and so on.  The most famous tsunami of present day was the one that hit various places in Asia on December 26 2004; it was created by an underwater earthquake. It was one of the biggest natural disasters in history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were hardest hit. It made the world to help in a huge humanitarian effort, people from all round the world collectively donated $7 billion. It is thought that 225,000 people lost their lives in eleven countries. The tsunami caught everyone by surprise. It is very difficult to notice a tsunami far out at sea and very special equipment is needed; unfortunately this equipment was not in place at the time of the disaster as tsunamis are very rare in the Indian Ocean. Measures have now been taken to prevent a disaster on this scale happening again.

Vocabulary