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Prepare Yourself To Face The Tsunami!

"The Great Wave" or "The Breaking Wave off Kanagawa" was made famous by the renowned artist, Hokusai, in the 1800s. The wood block painting showed puny humans in swift boats called oshoiokuribune, suspended in the air, inert, as they try to tackle this all-powerful magnificent wave! The tsunami itself is larger than even the monumental Mt. Fujiyama! The wave almost destroys the humans and indicates how powerless one can be against this force of nature. Few humans have been unlucky enough to experience this tragedy, fortunately.
The painting depicts a very friendly and beautiful image of the tsunami. The reality is quite different. When the tsunami strikes, it is too sudden to take it all in and creates horror in those who experience it.
SCIENCE EXPLAINS TSUNAMI IN THIS WAY
Tidal waves are common and occur quite often, but a tsunami is not a tidal wave. It is a seismic wave caused because of an earthquake taking place below the sea. Tides are not responsible for this activity. A section of the sea rises suddenly or drops away. The result is abnormally high wave or waves. Even landslides that occur under the sea can bring about a tsunami.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
In geographic terms, the tsunami coming from the Japanese term, which translates as "harbor wave," may be--according to experts at Houghton Mifflin's Geology Link-"as much as 30 meters high and 200 kilometers long, may move as fast as 250 kilometers per hour, and may continue to occur for as long as a few days."
THE ASIAN TSUNAMI CRISIS
Should a tsunami occur, hundreds and thousands of lives are put to an end and millions of worth of property is destroyed. Additionally, business and trade, industries and shops have to close down. Such a wave was seen in 2004 in the Indian Ocean. The number of lives that were lost totaled 283,000. The tsunami even traveled 8000 miles to reach the shores of Port Elizabeth in South Africa as well as six other countries. It visited Simeiulue Island and the coastal regions of Thailand and Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. The waves were seen to reach 100 feet in height.
PROTECTION AND WARNING INFORMATION
Opinions vary, of course, on what could have been done in those fifteen or thirty minutes before the 2004 disaster. One expert notes that while earthquakes cannot be predicted, per se, they can be "pinpointed," and with the "appropriate equipment in place" and an advanced warning system, those stunned into immobility might have been able to temporarily relocate in advance.
There are watchdog stations across the globe, some even as old as fifty yeaers. Property might not be saved, but humans can be. There is the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center or the ATWC at Palmar, Alaska and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Honolulu in Hawaii. Plenty of countries even have relocating plans to prepare for such an emergency. These can be found at the Provincial Emergency Program in British Columbia. It provides guidelines to protect against a tsunami and posts Tsunami Hazard Zone signs too in advance.

Article Source: http://www.articleadventure.com

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