Have You Faced A Tsunami In Your Life?
If they’re lucky, the closest humans will ever come to a tsunami is in the legendary artwork of Hokusai, the world-renowned artist who rendered the tsunami in the wood block painting, The Great Wave (also titled The Breaking Wave off Kanagawa). In the mid 1800s painting, the tsunami dwarfs the monumental Mt. Fujiyama, as it almost obliterates the small humans in normal swift boats (called Oshiokuribune) that here are suspended, inert, static against the overpowering tsunami.
The painting depicts a very friendly and beautiful image of the tsunami. The reality is quite different. When the tsunami strikes, it is too sudden to take it all in and creates horror in those who experience it.
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 CRISIS
Should a tsunami occur, hundreds and thousands of lives are put to an end and millions of worth of property is destroyed. Additionally, business and trade, industries and shops have to close down. Such a wave was seen in 2004 in the Indian Ocean. The number of lives that were lost totaled 283,000. The tsunami even traveled 8000 miles to reach the shores of Port Elizabeth in South Africa as well as six other countries. It visited Simeiulue Island and the coastal regions of Thailand and Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. The waves were seen to reach 100 feet in height.
PROTECTION AND WARNING INFORMATION
There are varied opinions expressed about how something some precautions could have been taken in the short time (15 to 30 minutes) before the tsunami made its appearance. Yes, it is difficult to predict earthquakes, but they can at least be pinpointed in a certain area. So if adequate warning equipment is put up, people and animals can be relocated. Many get to live for a few years more!
There are watchdog stations across the globe, some even as old as fifty yeaers. Property might not be saved, but humans can be. There is the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center or the ATWC at Palmar, Alaska and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Honolulu in Hawaii. Plenty of countries even have relocating plans to prepare for such an emergency. These can be found at the Provincial Emergency Program in British Columbia. It provides guidelines to protect against a tsunami and posts Tsunami Hazard Zone signs too in advance.
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