What is a

tsunami?
A tsunami is a massive wave caused by
underwater volcanoes and earthquakes.
Even landslides from under the water can
get a tsunami going.

Tsunamis are also influenced by water

depth. When water is really deep then
the tsunami is just a powerful currentish
thing going through the water; when it
reaches land it forms a huge wave.
THE TSUNAMI

When the tsunami hits the

shore, because the tsunami is
actually under the water too,
ripples go from the bottom
of the tsunami to the top,
creating a massive wave.
This  is  the    
tsunami  

This  is  the  

shore  
How do scientists predict the
arrival time of a tsunami?
They track the winds, according to
season and temperature. Usually the
information they collect only shows
patterns after the tsunami takes place.
They're trying to perfect this, but the
weather is still pretty unpredictable.
Scientists closely look at areas that are
often hit by tsunamis, such as beaches
near plate boundaries.

(The earth is made up of a number of

plates that fit together. Where the
plates meet, the earth’s surface is
weaker. Underneath the plates there is
magma. Sometimes the plates shift,
creating a gap between the plates.
Magma comes gushing out from
underneath the plates, creating an
underwater volcano or an earthquake.)

Scientists record wave heights and

speeds, sometimes using buoys that are
placed on the water surface off the coast.
If there are any unusual recordings, the
scientists will be alerted and hopefully
predict the arrival time of the tsunami,
before it strikes.    
  
 
 

The  biggest  and  deadliest,  the  most  

famous  tsunami…    
The landslide-caused Boxing Day tsunami
in Indonesia on 26 December 2004.

In 2004 under the sea, there came a BOOOM! An

explosion of lava lit the sea floor for a second, and in
that one tiny second a rock fall, created by the blast,
came tumbling across the sea floor, creating massive
shockwaves flying to the surface of the water,
creating a VERY powerful current over the seas!
Immediately it happened half the world was alerted,
most of eastern Africa was evacuated, but as I said
only half the world was alerted. Indonesia and a few
countries around there were not, so, on Boxing Day,
2004 a tsunami hit Indonesia, and a whole host of
other countries in that area, creating one of the
biggest and most tragic tsunami’s ever! “Oh,” you say,
“those poor Indonesian children just playing with their
new Christmas toys, then whoosh!!! Their house and
life gets swept away in a huge tidal wave!” Anyway
that HUGE tsunami made everybody VERY cautious about
tsunamis. I was too, seeing as over 280000 people
were killed! Not only were they killed in Indonesia but
also in Thailand, Sri Lanka and even India, though
most died in Indonesia. More of them would have been
saved if Indonesia was part of a continent and not a
big island. I checked it out on Google Maps and the
coastline goes: lots of beaches, lots of beaches then
NO beach whatsoever. Those guys on the other side of
the island are real lucky; they get real, cool beaches.
The real reason barely anybody survived was that the
communication did not get to those rather poorer
countries.
 The volcano-caused Good (bad?) Friday
tsunami in Alaska and California on 27th
March 1964

In 1964, under the sea a rocket of lava shot up

towards the surface, sending currents of over 200 mph
creating a HUGE, POWERFUL tsunami 9.2 magnitude,
which is a lot seeing as the Indonesia one was about
9.5. Surprisingly though, only 122 people were killed.
That’s because everybody else had got onto higher
ground in time. But the tragedy was not over. The
wave carried on from Alaska all the way down the
coast, to California! Luckily for some of the
Californians the signal had reached them that there
was a tsunami on the way to their neck of the
woods… But this time the tsunami was more powerful:
5 massive waves, huge ones that knocked over a few
skyscrapers even! Everyone survived the first 4, but
the fifth killed 12! These people were in a bus.
Apparently they were going up a hillside, and away
from the wave, and the bus lost it’s brakes!
The earthquake-caused tsunami in Chile on
the 27th February 2010.

One day, in 2010, the tsunami

warning came for more than
half of Chile to evacuate to
higher ground. The tsunami hit
at nine o’clock on Saturday,
created by the earthquake,
which had shaken the streets a
day earlier. Even though the
people had all been evacuated,
almost all of them were left
homeless. Most of the wreckage
had not been caused by the
tsunami, but the earthquake. It
had smashed houses to
smithereens, and trapped the
people inside. Lots of those
people later drowned in the
tsunami, or if they were lucky
survived till the rescue team
came. One guy got stuck in a
storage room and survived the
storm by drinking coke!
 Bibliography
http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/tsunami.htm  
 
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/animations/tsunami/index.html  
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chile_earthquake  
 
www.google.com  
 
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