Tsunamis

Tsunamis

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They're unpredictable, travel faster than commercial jets and can carry 20 tonne rocks as far as 180 metres inland. Get the low-down on these killer waves...

  • Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning 'harbour wave'. Tsunamis are sometimes called tidal waves, despite having nothing whatsoever to do with tides - they're most often generated by an earthquake induced movement of the ocean floor, although volcanic eruptions, underwater landslides and meteor strikes can also produce them.

  • According to the National Geophysical Data Centre, the first recorded tsunami occurred off the coast of Syria in 2000 BC. Some researchers have linked the 1600 BC Israelite crossing of the Red Sea to a tsunami, following the wake of a volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Santorini.


  • Japan experiences more tsunamis than anywhere else in the world: 195 over 1313 years; averaging one every 6.7 years.

  • On 9 July 1958, a huge landslide caused a tsunami in the fjord-shaped Lituya bay, Alaska. It was the world's tallest recorded tsunami with a wave 524 metres in height.


  • 90% of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean but Europe has been struck too. In October 1979, 23 people died when the coast of Nice, France, was hit by tsunami. This may have had a man-made cause - construction of the new Nice airport resulting in an undersea landslide.


  • In 1607, a flood in the Bristol Channel caused the deaths of around 2,000 people. Some researchers think the flooding was caused by a tsunami; The British Geological Survey has suggested an earthquake on an unstable fault off the coast of Ireland could have triggered it. Some churches have plaques on their walls showing how high the waters rose - a reported eight feet above sea-level.


  • A tsunami is recorded on Australia's coastline about once in every two years. Most are small and classified as low risk.


  • The majority of deaths associated with tsunamis are related to drowning, but injuries from the impact of being sucked into large debris (trees, buildings and rocks) are also a major cause of death. The secondary effects arise from disease through contaminated water and lack of food, shelter and medical care. The long-lasting effects depend on the community being helped to recover mentally, socially and economically.


  • When the island volcano of Krakatoa, Indonesia, exploded in 1883, tsunamis sweept throughout the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, American West coast, South America and even as far away as the English Channel. On the facing shores of Sumatra and Java, a tsunami caused such devastation and loss of life that one area was never resettled. It is now the Ujung Kulon Nature Reserve.


  • On 26 December 2004, a tsunami travelled 375 miles in 75 minutes (faster than a commercial jet) before hitting the coast of Indonesia. The resulting disaster left a death toll of over 220,000 people, ranging in area over Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives, Bangladesh, India, and thousands of miles away in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. It was without doubt, one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Its origin was a colossal nine magnitude earthquake deep under the Indian Ocean.


  • One Indonesian woman spent five days in the Indian Ocean clinging to a sago palm before being rescued. Unbelievably, the 18 week-old foetus she was carrying also survived. Read more tsunami Survival Stories.
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