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
There isn't a way of preventing a hurricane, but there are ways to prevent injuries. If you have never experienced a hurricane, learn about them. Many places offer free hurricane tips and preparation. Always have the necessities if the is a hurricane warning; water, batteries, flashlight, radio, matches, canned food, hand operated can opener, candles and a first aid kit. Make an emergency plan with your family, designate a safety area in the house and a meeting place if you should separate.
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
Tsunamis can go the same speed as a jetliner and that massive wave can out run the fastest runner. When there is a lot of waves at once, or the water goes back that is a sign that a tsunami is coming. If that tsunami is far then people need to get to the tallest and strongest building there is in the city that way they are safe and helicopter can pick them up. Tsunamis can wipe out an entire city or 1/4 of the country. Tsunamis can last up to an hour, or more.
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
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
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.
The earthquake that devastated Japan on Friday, March 11, 2011 was one of the worst disasters to occur in twenty-first century. Not only did the earthquake itself affect the nation, but it also suffered through the following tsunami that occurred afterwards.
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.
An earthquake occurs abruptly and causes severs damage to people, property, landscape and more. A great mega-thrust earthquake, known as the Great Tohoku Earthquake has shaken Japan at 5:46:24 UTC on March 11, 2011. It caused a severe disaster, including tsunami and nuclear radiation exposure.. This mega-quake located at the latitude 38.297 degree North and longitude of 142.372 degree East, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan (USGS, 2013). An earthquake and tsunami waves caused widespread damage to many areas of Japan. People in Japan are still recovering from the damages.
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.
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).
There was a multitude of causes of the disaster in Japan. The first cause was a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred off the coast of Japan. Japan is located in “The Ring of Fire,” an area in the Pacific Ocean that has multiple faults and earthquakes (Pedersen 13). Tectonic plates shifted off the North Pacific coast of Japan and created a massive earthquake. The next cause was a thirty-three foot wall of water that swept over cities and farmland in Japan (Branigan 2). Martin Fackler, a journalist, stated, “The quake churned up a devastating tsunami” (Fackler 3). The tsunami reached speeds of 497 miles per hour while approaching Japan (Fackler 3). The third and final reason of the disaster was that the cooling systems at multiple nuclear power plants failed. At Fukushima, a nuclear power plant in Sendai, Japan, the radioactive rods began to overheat due to the absence of water, which cools it. Explosions occurred at three of the reactors, which spewed radiation into the air (“Comparing nuclear power plant crises”). In conclusion, the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant issues were the causes of the disaster in Japan, but they also had a myriad of effects.
The word “tsunami” comes from the Japanese, in which “tsu” stands for harbor and “nami” means wave. Another name for tsunamis are seismic sea waves. A tsunami is defined as an ocean wave with long wavelengths that are produced by a landslide, volcano, or earthquake. After a tsunami is generated, the waves move very rapidly across the ocean, reaching speeds over 435 miles per hour. In open and deep waters, a tsunami may have a wavelength of 125 miles and a height around 1.5 feet making it almost impossible to recognize. However, when a tsunami hits shallower waters, the height of the wave starts to increase. Shallow waters cause the waves to slow down, which results in a shorter wavelength. Once a wave reaches the shoreline, a tsunami can amazingly reach as high as 130 feet up in the air. Often, tsunamis are mistaken as tidal waves, but they are not the same thing. Tidal waves are ocean waves like tsunamis, but tidal waves take place in shallow waters
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 ...
This Tsunami costed the Japanese government 25 trillion yen ($300 billion) dollars. The earthquake happened because of the thrust faulting on or around the subduction zone interface plate boundary between the pacific and North American plates. According to scientists who has look at this disaster Japan has shifted 8 feet (2.4 meters) East towards North America. The earthquake has also caused the earth to move between 4 and 6.5 (10–16cm) inches on its axis. This earthquake caused the tsunami because when the earthquake happened it suddenly shifted the sea floor in vertical motion, which moved the water Colum above it. This process started a series of giant waves called a tsunami. For the Japanese government this was the worst thing that could happen to them in the way that they lost a lot of citizens but also financially. This effected not only the Japanese government with damage costs but also the manufacturing business, exporting business and the insurance business. The Insurance companies claims ran into the billions. The manufacturing business was suspended along with car exports.