The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami took place on December 26th, 2004 and had a magnitude of 9.15. The cause of the Sumatra Tsunami was due to the sliding of two tectonic plates. Sumatra, an island in Indonesia, is situated on the boundary of the two plates; part of Sumatra is situated on the India/Australian plate and the other part is on the Eurasian plate. The Indian/Australian plate and Eurasian plate connect on the ocean floor at the boundary, a little over 100 miles off the short of Sumatra. Sumatra was one among the many countries that was impacted by these natural disasters. To fully understand the Sumatra Tsunami one must examine the events that led up to it, what a tsunami is, and the damage caused. A tsunami is a series of waves “created by an underwater disturbance such as an earthquake, landslide, volcanic eruption, or meteorite” (ready.gov). Tsunami waves are quite different from normal waves. Once a tsunami is set in motion there is no way to really “prevent” it fully, or to stop such an event. Precautionary steps can be taken, such as in Japan where a sea wall was built to protect people and property. However, this was a futile attempt since in 2011 a tsunami was able to surge over the wall, with the water building up and rushing over the top. The lesson learned is that one should not …show more content…
Predicting tsunamis is not a precise art; unlike some natural disasters, tsunamis are not climate based and do not happen during a particular season. In the case of the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami, an ocean-based sensors and a warning system in place could have been an enormous help. At the time of the tsunami, there were no ocean-based sensors in place in the Indian Ocean—which lead to a lack of knowledge of the tsunami, resulting in a lack of a plan to move to higher ground resulting in 230,000 were killed due to the Boxing Day
Imagine if a 9.0 earthquake struck the West Coast today, resulting in a giant tsunami. Coastal towns would be washed away or completely isolated, and electricity would be lost (FOX5). There would be $70 billion in damage and people would only have 15 minutest to evacuate or move to higher ground resulting in 10,000 deaths (FOX5). This sounds like a plot for a scary movie, but this is actually a reality. The Oregon Coast in located on a subduction zone, which makes it very susceptible to major earthquakes and tsunamis. With the Cascadia subduction zone running along he West Coast the threat of a major tsunami is very real.
The change in climate also affect the ocean currents and heat up the land under the water causing tsunamis. For example, The Japan earthquake and tsunami which took place on march 11, 2011.
Out of all the natural disasters that we talk about in class, the most deadly would have to be a Tsunami. Compared to earthquakes, Tsunamis have cause more deaths since 1945. A Tsunami is likely to strike anywhere on the west coast, including Santa Cruz in California – United States – North America – 36:58:24N 122:02:09W. A Tsunami is a giant “wave” of water that is caused by a sudden shift in the sea floor. The wave is a result of the water attempting to regain its equilibrium, which is driven by gravity. The size of the wave is determined by how much the sea floor is moved vertically, and how quickly it shifts. A greater water depth helps as well. They can travel up to five hundred miles an hour and have wave heights of one hundred feet. Earthquakes are the leading cause of Tsunamis. People who live in California are well aware of earthquakes that are frequently caused by the San Andreas Fault. However, not many are aware of the results of earthquakes that occur out in the Pacific Ocean. Tsunamis have also been referred to in the past as seismic sea waves, but Earthquakes aren’t the only cause of this phenomenon. Landslides, nuclear explosions, volcanic eruptions, and extra terrestrial impacts also have great water displacement results.
Beginning with Chile, it affected the cities of Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Rio Negro, Temuco, to name a few. It also affected the coast of California, New Zealand, Australia and Kamchatka. This affected the people of Chile plenty. It is believed that most of the loss of life were caused by the tsunami. The earthquake affected by speeding up Earth’s rotation. It shorted earth days by 1.26 millionths of a second. It also shifted Earth’s figure axis by about three inches. While all this happen in 1960, it was a cause of the 2010 earthquake that occur in Chile. This time it was a magnitude of 8.8 and like I mentioned, all this occur from the earthquake in 1960. However, the diving tectonic plate at the epicenter of the 8.8 magnitude, helped to temporarily redistribute mass on Earth. Unfortunately, as every Earthquake, there is damages. $550 million damage in southern Chile. Different sources have estimated the monetary cost ranged from US$400 million to 800 million (or 2.9 to 5.8 billion in 2011 dollars, adjusted for inflation). Furthermore, besides the dollar amount in damages that was mentioned in this paper, the tsunamis played a factor on the
There are three main causes of inundation.2 Storm surges are waves that are larger than usual, which occur during storm events such as tropical cyclones due to strong onshore winds, low barometric pressures and increased wave height. Tsunami are “large waves generated by an abrupt disturbance of the sea surface” 1, which can cause substantial flooding to coastal regions.1 Sea level rise is an increase in mean ocean levels largely due to climate change.1 Estimates suggest that sea level will continue to rise over time, however predicting the amount of change is not accurate and is thus very controversial.4, 6
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, the people of San Francisco were awakened by an earthquake that would devastate the city. The earthquake was caused by a rupture of the northernmost 296 miles of the San Andreas Fault, leaving 225,000 homeless, 3,000 dead and 500 city blocks gone.
Additionally, this earthquake occurred on a thrust fault. This fault was a subduction zone slip which occurred primarily beneath the ocean were the Pacific plate plunges underneath the North American plate. This sudden upward movement of the sea floor along the rupturing fault generated a massive tsunami. This vertical deformation
...nd a large recession in the ocean beyond normal tide levels accompanied by a loud roar (Singh). Second, people should know that the higher in elevation you can get during a tsunami, the greater your chances are for survival. If you are in a building with more than one story, get to the highest level of the building you can access. If you are in a one-story building when a tsunami is about to occur, flee to higher ground if there is time (Singh).
Yamada G., Gunatilake R, P., Imur, R, M., Gunatilake, S., Fernando, T., Fernando, L. The Sri Lanka Tsunami Experience. Disaster Management and Response. 2006; 4:38–48.
While the early warning saved thousands of people, the Japan’s Meteorological Agency underestimated this earthquake as the subduction zone of Japan should not produce the magnitude 9.0 quake (Oskin, 2013a). The Tohoku Earthquake and its tsunami approximately killed 16 thousand people, injured 6 thousand people and around 3 thousand people were missing. Most people died from drowning. Around 300 thousand buildings, 4000 roads, 78 bridges, and many more were affected by the earthquake, tsunami, and fires from leaking oils and gas. Electricity, telecommunication, and railways were severely damaged. The debris of 25 million tons was generated and carried out to the sea by water (BBC News, 2012). The country’s authorities estimated more than 309 billion US dollars of damages. Landslides occurred in Miyagi and liquefaction in Chiba, Tokyo, Odaiba, and Urayasu (USGS, 2013). Furthermore, the tsunami destroyed protective tsunami seawalls. Approximately 217 square miles of Japan covered in water (Oskin,
Miskien op ‘n ander manier dit se(raak ontslae van al die “of”s) ?The consequences of tsunamis are the death of thousands of people, destroying of homes, and the destruction of any man made equipment that gets in the way of the tsunami (Norman and Whitfield, 2006). No one can stop tsunamis happening. However, the effects of a tsunami can be reduced by making shorelines less vulnerable (Rothery, 2007).
On March 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM, Japanese time, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hits, but was later upgraded to a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, happens 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan, at a depth of 15.2 miles. The pacific tsunami-warning centre sends out a warning to the Pacific Ocean from Japan all the way to The United States of America. Around an hour later after the earthquake the waves hit. The waves got up to 30ft high when they hit the Japanese coast. The waves caused widespread devastation washing away cars like they were sticks, collapsing buildings and destroying roads and highways.
Since most tsunamis stem from earthquakes, scientists have discovered that we can use seismographs to detect them. Definition of a seismograph. With this technology, a warning can be issued to give people time to evacuate and go to safe grounds. However, if a tsunami is generated near a coast, coastguards (who?) may only be able to give people a few minute warning before the first wave hits.
Imagine more than half of the population of Kenosha being over-taken by a deluge of water without warning or the ability to escape. On December 26, 2004, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, occurred in the Indian Ocean off of the Samaritan coast, triggering the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. Before the tsunami, this region of the world was one of the most sought after vacation spots. After the record-breaking destruction, the pristine beach front and inviting residents were forever changed. The regional damage was so massive that it demanded a response on a global scale for rescue, recovery, stability, and to rebuild this treasured place.
The first thing I would like to do is explain the current process that we use to attempt to predict these natural disasters. The act of predicting an earthquake is normally described as “as the specification of the time, location, and magnitude of a future earthquake within stated limits.” (Earthquake Prediction) Now this is also a completely different process than earthquake forecasting which is more so distinguished as the general assessment of the hazards that an earthquake presents within a given area, including the magnitude and frequency that is associated with that earthquake. We have in place, in a lot of countries, and early warning system, but this can also be distinguished from predicting earthquakes because of the fact that these systems only give about a couple of seconds of warning compared to what we would like it to be. When we speak about the prediction of ...