Tsunamis Facts
Tsunamis Facts
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Interesting Tsunamis Facts: |
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Approximately 80% of tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire, where earthquakes and volcanoes are common. |
A tsunami can reach speeds of 500 miles per hour, which is almost the speed of a jet airplane. |
Because of their speed, a tsunami could cross the Pacific Ocean in only one day. |
The long wave-length of a tsunami allows it to maintain its strength as it moves toward shore. |
As a tsunami nears the shore, it slows down, but it gains more height and energy. |
The top of a tsunami wave actually moves faster than the bottom. This is what causes them to rise so high. |
Right before a tsunami hits shore, the coastal water is sucked away from the shore, which exposes the sea floor. This is a warning that the tsunami will hit within the next five minutes. |
The first wave to hit shore is not usually the strongest wave. The waves that follow grow progressively larger and gain more strength. |
In 426 BC, a Greek historian Thucydides wrote about tsunamis in his book History of the Peloponnesian War. He suggested that they were caused by earthquakes. |
In the United States, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and California are the states most at risk for a tsunami because of their location in relation to the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire. |
Hawaii has a tsunami approximately every year however only one every seven years causes much damage. |
The largest tsunami in Hawaii's recorded history occurred in 1946, which killed 170 people. |
In Japanese, tsunami means ‘harbor wave'. Japan has a long history of tsunamis. |
The tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 killed more than 230,000 people in 14 countries, from Thailand to Africa. |
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is estimated to have had the energy equivalent to 23,000 atomic bombs. |
The 2011 tsunami caused by the Tohoku earthquake off the east coast of Japan killed more than 15,000 people. This tsunami also caused a few nuclear accidents. |
Some people have referred to tsunamis as tidal waves but the reference has stopped being used because they have nothing to do with tides. |
If a person is swept up in a tsunami, the best thing they can do is grab onto something that floats, not to try to swim. |
Because of scientific research, it is now possible to determine the time when a tsunami will hit, based on the time of the tsunami-causing event (such as an earthquake), water-depth, and distance from one place to another. |
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