Understanding TSUNAMI

1511 volcanoes that have erupted in the past 10,000 years. On 805 of those we know the actual date of at least one eruption. About 600 . . . active volcanoes . . . and many more dormant ones are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire. The potential of tsunami-producing eruptions is very high around the pacific because there are so many volcanoes on islands (or islands that are volcanoes), and volcanoes near the coastlines of continents. Almost all of these pacific rim volcanoes are strato-volcanoes, meaning that their eruptions are explosive and that they are made up of layers of both ash and lava. Both of these situations are good for promoting flank instability which might cause giant landslides or slope failures into the ocean which in turn would generate a tsunami. - Scott Rowland, University of Hawaii

A tsunami (pronounced tsoo-nah-mee) is a wave train, or series of waves, generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life. As a tsunami leaves the deep water of the open ocean and travels into the shallower water near the coast, it transforms. A tsunami travels at a speed that is related to the water depth - hence, as the water depth decreases, the tsunami slows. The tsunami's energy flux, which is dependent on both its wave speed and wave height, remains nearly constant. Consequently, as the tsunami's speed diminishes as it travels into shallower water, its height grows. Because of this shoaling effect, a tsunami, imperceptible at sea, may grow to be several meters or more in height near the coast. When it finally reaches the coast, a tsunami may appear as a rapidly rising or falling tide, a series of breaking waves, or even a bore. Just like other water waves, tsunamis begin to lose energy as they rush onshore - part of the wave energy is reflected offshore, while the shoreward-propagating wave energy is dissipated through bottom friction and turbulence. Despite these losses, tsunamis still reach the coast with tremendous amounts of energy. Tsunamis have great erosional potential, stripping beaches of sand that may have taken years to accumulate and undermining trees and other coastal vegetation. Capable of inundating, or flooding, hundreds of meters inland past the typical high-water level, the fast-moving water associated with the inundating tsunami can crush homes and other coastal structures. Tsunamis may reach a maximum vertical height onshore above sea level, often called a runup height, of 10, 20, and even 30 meters.

Warning Device:
The Tsunami Warning System (TWS) in the Pacific, comprised of 26 participating international Member States , has the functions of monitoring seismological and tidal stations throughout the Pacific Basin to evaluate potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes and disseminating tsunami warning information. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) is the operational center of the Pacific TWS. Located near Honolulu, Hawaii, PTWC provides tsunami warning information to national authorities in the Pacific Basin.

General Info About Tsunamis:

• Tsunamis that strike coastal locations in the Pacific Ocean Basin are most always caused by earthquakes. These earthquakes might occur far away or near where you live.
• Some tsunamis can be very large. In coastal areas their height can be as great as 30 feet or more (100 feet in extreme cases), and they can move inland several hundred feet.
• All low-lying coastal areas can be struck by tsunamis.
• A tsunami consists of a series of waves. Often the first wave may not be the largest. The danger from a tsunami can last for several hours after the arrival of the first wave.
  Tsunamis can move faster than a person can run.
• Sometimes a tsunami causes the water near the shore to recede, exposing the ocean floor.
  The force of some tsunamis is enormous. Large rocks weighing several tons along with boats and other debris can be moved inland hundreds of feet by tsunami wave activity. Homes and other buildings are destroyed. All this material and water move with great force and can kill or injure people.
• Tsunamis can occur at any time, day or night.
• Tsunamis can travel up rivers and streams that lead to the ocean.

Safety Measures:

If you are on land:

• If you are in school and you hear there is a tsunami warning, you should follow the advice of teachers and other school personnel.
• If you are at home and hear there is a tsunami warning, you should make sure your entire family is aware of the warning. Your family should evacuate your house if you live in a tsunami evacuation zone. Move in an orderly, calm and safe manner to the evacuation site or to any safe place outside your evacuation zone. Follow the advice of local emergency and law enforcement authorities.
• If you are at the beach or near the ocean and you feel the earth shake, move immediately to higher ground, DO NOT wait for a tsunami warning to be announced. Stay away from rivers and streams that lead to the ocean as you would stay away from the beach and ocean if there is a tsunami. A regional tsunami from a local earthquake could strike some areas before a tsunami warning could be announced.
• Tsunamis generated in distant locations will generally give people enough time to move to higher ground. For locally-generated tsunamis, where you might feel the ground shake, you may only have a few minutes to move to higher ground.
• High, multi-story, reinforced concrete hotels are located in many low-lying coastal areas. The upper floors of these hotels can provide a safe place to find refuge should there be a tsunami warning and you cannot move quickly inland to higher ground. Local Civil Defense procedures may, however, not allow this type of evacuation in your area. Homes and small buildings located in low-lying coastal areas are not designed to withstand tsunami impacts. Do not stay in these structures should there be a tsunami warning.
• Offshore reefs and shallow areas may help break the force of tsunami waves, but large and dangerous wave can still be a threat to coastal residents in these areas. Staying away from all low-lying areas is the safest advice when there is a tsunami warning.

If you are on a boat:

Since tsunami wave activity is imperceptible in the open ocean, do not return to port if you are at sea and a tsunami warning has been issued for your area. Tsunamis can cause rapid changes in water level and unpredictable dangerous currents in harbors and ports.

If there is time to move your boat or ship from port to deep water (after a tsunami warning has been issued), you should weigh the following considerations:

• Most large harbors and ports are under the control of a harbor authority and/or a vessel traffic system. These authorities direct operations during periods of increased readiness (should a tsunami be expected), including the forced movement of vessels if deemed necessary. Keep in contact with the authorities should a forced movement of vessel be directed.
• Smaller ports may not be under the control of a harbor authority. If you are aware there is a tsunami warning and you have time to move your vessel to deep water, then you may want to do so in an orderly manner, in consideration of other vessels. Owners of small boats may find it safest to leave their boat at the pier and physically move to higher ground, particularly in the event of a locally-generated tsunami. Concurrent severe weather conditions (rough seas outside of safe harbor) could present a greater hazardous situation to small boats, so physically moving yourself to higher ground may be the only option.
• Damaging wave activity and unpredictable currents can effect harbors for a period of time following the initial tsunami impact on the coast. Contact the harbor authority before returning to port making sure to verify that conditions in the harbor are safe for navigation and berthing.

So why did i put this is in my blog? The main reason is for me to calculate the percentage of a seismic wave or tsunami occuring. But base on these informations, i think, it can't be done. Because no one can predict when a volcano may errupt or a meteor will fall from the sky that may cause a tsunami. But i can say, base on these facts, that the most vulnerable countries are the countries near the Pacific Ring of Fire which includes the Philippines. As related to the tragic event that happened in south eastern part of Asia particularly in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Maldives. The tsunami started when an earthquake rocked the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra but because there is no warning device like in the Pacific Ocean, the only indication that the tsunami is coming was the drying up of the sea and because the last tsunami that occured in the Indian Ocean was dated 60 years ago, meaning, people don't know the significance of the drying-up of the sea. If only, there were warning devices and if only, people knew about the signs of tsunami the toll of death that reached 55,000 as of today would have not happened.