In the open ocean, tsunamis seem small and harmless. But a whole column of water is moving, measuring many miles to the ocean floor. By the time a tsunami reaches the shore, it transforms into a monster! With waves that can reach over 50 feet, a tsunami can level houses like a bulldozer, toss cars like toothpicks, and destroy everything in its path. Learn all about the world’s deadliest tsunamis and what to do to keep safe if you ever encounter one! This title will allow student to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. • Bolded keywords and phonetic glossary • Content sidebars • Text based questions • Maps and diagrams

Explains how tsunamis form, how they move, the damage they cause, and how the 2004 tsunami affected South Asia and the world.

Describes what causes a tsunami, what makes them so big, nature's warnings, preventing future disasters, and more surprising facts.

A tsunami is a series of water waves that is caused when a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides, bolide impacts, and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Furthermore, Tsunamis and storm surges have killed more than one million people, and some three billion people live with a high risk of these disasters that are becoming more frequent and devastating world-wide. This book presents field survey results on tsunami arrival times, wave run-up heights, inundation distances and damage to properties on beaches due to tsunamis. The main injuries of survivors (i.e., aspiration and trauma) are also analysed. Effects of coastal forests on tsunami run-up heights are discussed as well. Other chapters in this book highlight topics such as tsunamis and poisonous gases generated by asteroid impact in the Black Sea, tsunami simulation research, coastal protection measures for tsunami disaster reduction, case studies from the Sri Lanka tsunami, tsunami monitoring and detection, and early warning systems.

On April 1, 1946, shortly after sunrise, the town of Hilo on the island of Hawai'i was devastated by a series of giant waves. Traveling 2,300 miles from the Aleutian Islands in less than five hours, the waves struck without warning and claimed 159 lives. Fourteen years later, on May 22, 1960, a massive earthquake occurred off of the coast of Chile. The earthquake generated giant waves that sped across the Pacific at 442 miles per hour, reaching Hilo in just fifteen hours. The first wave to hit the town was a modest four feet higher than normal, the second nine feet. Before the third wave could arrive, a tidal phenomenon known as a bore smashed into the Hilo bayfront, with thirty-five foot waves that wrenched buildings off their foundations. That day several city blocks were swept clean of all structures and 61 people died. The first edition of Tsunami!, published in 1988, provided readers with a complete examination of the tsunami phenomenon in Hawai'i. This second edition adds many eyewitness accounts of the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 and expands its coverage to include major tsunamis in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Fiji, Alaska, California, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean, as well as the 1998 devastation in Papua New Guinea. Dramatic photographs and accounts of experiencing a tsunami firsthand are placed within the framework of the how and why of tsunamis, our scientific understanding of these phenomena, and the current status of the Tsunami Warning System, which is widely used to forecast and measure tsunamis and prepare coastal areas for potentially deadly tsunami strikes.

Till the very end of the twentieth century tsunami waves (or ‘waves in a harbour’, translated from Japanese) were considered an extremely rare and exotic natural p- nomenon, originating in the ocean and unexpectedly falling upon the seaside as gigantic waves. The 26th of December 2004, when tsunami waves wiped out, in a single day, more than 250,000 human lives, mourned in many countries, turned out to be a tragic date for all mankind. The authors of this book, who have studied tsunami waves for many years, - tended it to be a systematic exposition of modern ideas concerning • The mechanisms of tsunami wave generation • The peculiarities of tsunami wave propagation in the open ocean and of how waves run-up beaches • Methods for tsunami wave registration and the operation of a tsunami warning system • The mechanisms of other catastrophic processes in the ocean related to the se- mic activity of our planet The authors considered their main goal to be the creation of book prese- ing modern knowledge of tsunami waves and of other catastrophes in the ocean to scienti?c researchers and specialists in geophysics, oceanography, seismology, hydroacoustics, geology, geomorphology, civil and seaside engineering, postgr- uate students and students of relevant professions.

"This book will be of interest to seismologists, oceanographers, volcanologists, coastal engineers, members of the IUGG Tsunami Commission, and staff of operational tsunami warning centers."--BOOK JACKET.