Tsunamis are a formidable natural phenomenon resulting from volcanic eruptions or earthquakes in coastal areas. This is a giant wave, covering the coast for many kilometers inward. The term "tsunami" is of Japanese origin, it literally sounds like "a big wave in the gulf." It is Japan that most often suffers from natural disasters, because it is located in the Pacific ring of fire - the largest seismic belt of the Earth.
Causes of occurrence
A tsunami results from the “shaking” of billions of tons of water. Like circles from a stone thrown into the water, the waves scatter in different directions at a speed of about 800 km per hour to reach the shore and splash onto it with a huge rampart that destroys everything in its path. And often people who find themselves in the tsunami area have a few minutes to leave the dangerous place. Therefore, it is very important to warn residents about the threat in time, not sparing money for this.
The largest tsunamis in 10 years
A terrible tragedy occurred in the Indian Ocean in 2004. An underwater earthquake of magnitude 9.1 caused the appearance of giant waves up to 98 m high. Within a few minutes, they reached the coast of Indonesia. In total, 14 countries were in the disaster zone, including Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Bangladesh.
It was the largest tsunami in history for the number of victims, which reached 230 thousand. The densely populated coastal areas were not equipped with a hazard warning system , which caused so many
dead. But there could have been much more victims if the information about the tsunami in ancient times had not been preserved in the oral traditions of individual peoples of these countries. And some families said that they were able to leave the dangerous place thanks to the children who learned about the giant waves in the lessons. And the retreat of the sea, before returning in the form of a deadly tsunami, gave them a signal to run higher along the slope. This confirmed the need for people to be trained in emergency procedures.
The largest tsunami in Japan
In the spring of 2011, disaster struck the Japanese islands . On March 11, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred off the coast of the country, which led to the appearance of waves up to 33 m high. Some reports noted different figures - water crests reached 40-50 m.
Despite the fact that almost all coastal cities in Japan have dams to protect against tsunamis, this did not help in the earthquake zone. The number of deaths, as well as those taken to the ocean and missing, totals more than 25 thousand people. People across the country were anxiously reading the lists of those affected by the earthquake and tsunami, fearing to find their near and dear ones in them.
125 thousand buildings were destroyed, transport infrastructure was damaged. But the most dangerous consequence was the accident at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant. It almost led to a global nuclear disaster, especially since radioactive contamination affected the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Not only the Japanese power engineers, rescuers and self-defense forces were thrown to eliminate the accident. The leading nuclear powers of the world also sent their experts to help rescue from environmental disaster. Although the situation at the nuclear power plant has now stabilized, scientists still cannot fully assess its consequences.
Tsunami alert services have notified Hawaii, the Philippines and other areas at risk. But, fortunately, already weakened waves reaching a height of no more than three meters reached their shores.
So, the largest tsunamis in the last 10 years have occurred in the Indian Ocean and Japan.
Major disasters decades
Indonesia and Japan are among the countries where destructive waves occur quite often. For example, in July 2006, a tsunami again formed in Java as a result of a destructive underwater propulsion. Waves reaching in places 7-8 m swept along the coast, capturing even those areas that miraculously did not suffer during the deadly 2004 tsunami. Residents and guests of the resort areas again experienced the horror of helplessness in front of the forces of nature. In total, 668 people died or went missing during the rampage, and more than 9 thousand sought medical help.
In 2009, a major tsunami occurred on the Samoa archipelago, where almost 15-meter waves passed through the islands, destroying everything in its path. The number of victims amounted to 189 people, mostly children on the coast. But the operational work of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center helped to avoid even greater human losses, allowing people to be evacuated to safe places.
The largest tsunamis over the past 10 years have occurred in the Pacific and Indian oceans off the coast of Eurasia. But this does not mean that such disasters cannot happen in other parts of the globe.
The devastating tsunami in the history of mankind
Human memory has preserved information about the giant waves observed in antiquity. The oldest is the mention of the tsunami that occurred in connection with the eruption of a volcano on the island of Big Santorin. This event dates back to 1410 BC.
It was the largest tsunami in the world of antiquity. The explosion lifted a large part of the island into the sky, leaving a cavity instantly filled with sea water in its place. From a collision with red-hot magma, the water boiled sharply and evaporated, amplifying the earthquake. The waters of the Mediterranean rose, forming giant waves that hit the entire coast. The ruthless element took 100 thousand lives, which is a very large number even for modernity, not like for ancient times. According to many scholars, it is this eruption and the tsunami that arose as a result of it that led to the disappearance of the Cretan Minoan culture, one of the most mysterious ancient civilizations on Earth.
In 1755, the city of Lisbon was almost completely wiped off the face of the earth by a terrible earthquake, the fires that arose as a result of it, and a terrible wave that surged through the city afterwards. 60,000 people died, many were injured. Sailors from the ships that arrived at the port of Lisbon after the disaster did not recognize the surrounding area. This misfortune was one of the reasons Portugal lost the title of great sea power.
30 thousand people became victims of the 1707 tsunami in Japan. In 1782, a disaster in the South China Sea claimed the lives of 40 thousand people. The eruption of the volcano Krakatau (1883) also caused the emergence of a tsunami, which is associated with the death of 36.5 thousand people. In 1868, the number of victims of huge waves in Chile amounted to more than 25 thousand. The year 1896 was marked by a new tsunami in Japan, which claimed more than 26 thousand lives.
Alaskan tsunami
An incredible wave was formed in 1958 in Lituja Bay in Alaska. The root cause of its occurrence was also an earthquake. But other circumstances were superimposed on him. As a result of the earthquake, a giant landslide descended from the slopes of the mountains on the coast of the bay, amounting to about 300 million cubic meters. m of stones and ice. All this collapsed into the waters of the bay, causing the formation of a colossal wave, reaching a height of 524 m! Scientist Miller believes that even before this, there were the largest tsunamis in the world.
A blow of such a force fell on the opposite shore that all the vegetation and the mass of loose rocks were completely demolished on the slopes, the rocky base was exposed. Three ships, caught in the bay at an unfortunate moment, had a different fate. One of them sank, the second crashed, but the team managed to escape. And the third vessel, being on the crest of the wave, was transferred through the spit that separated the bay, and was thrown into the ocean. Only miraculously, the sailors did not die. Then they recalled how during a forced “flight” they saw below the ship tops of trees growing on a spit.
Fortunately, the shores of Lituja Bay are almost deserted, so such an unprecedented wave did no significant harm. The largest tsunami was without big casualties. It is believed that only 2 people died.
Tsunami in the Russian Far East
In our country, the Pacific coast of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands belong to the tsunami hazard zone. They also lie in a seismically unstable area, where destructive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions often occur.
The largest tsunami in Russia was recorded in 1952. The waves, reaching a height of 8-10 meters, hit the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka. The population was not prepared for such a turn of events after the earthquake. Those who, after the cessation of tremors returned to the surviving houses, for the most part did not get out of them. The city of Severo-Kurilsk was almost completely destroyed. The number of victims is estimated at 2336 people, but perhaps there are many more. The tragedy that happened several days before the 35th anniversary of the October Revolution was hushed up for years, only rumors were circulating about it. The city was moved to a higher and safer place.
The Kuril tragedy became the basis for the organization of the tsunami warning service in the USSR.
Lessons of the past
The largest tsunamis over the past 10 years have shown the fragility of life and all that is created by man before the raging elements. But they also made it possible to understand the need to coordinate the efforts of many countries to prevent the worst consequences. And in most areas affected by the tsunami, work was begun to warn the population of the danger and the need for evacuation.