The SE Asia tsunami races into an unidentified bay/lagoon on Boxing day 2004

SE Asia Quake/Tsunami:

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Is it possible to surf a tsunami?.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 02 January 2005; -- Is it possible to surf a tsunami?: Not really. For one thing, a tsunami does not curl. For another, it tends to be moving too fast - more than 100 mph - as opposed to the typical surfing wave speed of 35 mph. Still, Hawaii officials say 10 years ago a tsunami warning drew more than 400 surfers off Oahu's North Shore. In September 2004, state officials there distributed a DVD through local surf shops warning against even attempting such a stunt.



Some more key facts about tsunamis...

Often a tsunami is incorrectly referred to as a tidal wave, which, strictly speaking, describes the periodic movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tides. Oceanographers call tsunamis seismic seawaves because they are usually caused by a sudden rise or fall of part of the earth's crust under or near the ocean. Less powerful tsunami waves can also be triggered by volcanic activity. They are most common in the Pacific Ocean.

A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of waves that can travel across the ocean at speeds of more than 800 km (500 miles) an hour. In the deep ocean, hundreds of miles (km) can separate wave crests; many people have lost their lives during tsunamis after returning home thinking the waves had stopped.

As the tsunami enters the shallows of coastlines in its path, its velocity slows but its height increases. A tsunami that is just a few centimetres or metres high from trough to crest can rear up to heights of 30 to 50 metres as it hits the shore, striking with devastating force. For those on shore there is little warning of a tsunami's approach. The first indication is often a sharp swell, not unlike an ordinary storm swell.

In 1883, a tsunami following the eruption of Krakatoa volcano between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra killed 36,000. The tsunami's passage was traced as far away as Panama. In July 1998, two undersea quakes measuring 7.0 created three tsunamis that killed at least 2,100 near the town of Aitape on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. Villagers said the massive walls of water, which washed two kilometres (1.2 miles) inland, sounded like a jet fighter landing.

Is a tsunami the same thing as a tidal wave?

No. It has nothing to do with tides, which are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. The word tsunami (pronounced tsoo-nah'-mee) is composed of the Japanese words "tsu" (which means harbor) and "nami" (which means "wave"). Tsunamis can be generated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or underwater landslides.

Is the SE Asia Earthquake/Tsunami the worst natural disaster of all time?

No. In October 1887 the Yellow River overflowed its banks in China, killing some 900,000 people. It's not even the worst natural disaster in the last 30 years. The 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China killed at least 255,000 people, and maybe more than 500,000. This is, however, the highest death toll from a tsunami. Previously the record was 27,000 people who drowned when a tsunami estimated to be 80 to 110 feet high hit a Japanese village in the middle of a religious festival in 1896. Fishermen at sea didn't notice the deadly wave as it passed beneath their boats. They returned to a shore strewn with corpses.



Did the earthquake really affect the Earth's rotation?

Yes. This quake was strong enough to affect the Earth's rotation slightly. It also redistributed Earth's mass, moving the North Pole 1 inch and causing the length of a day to shrink permanently by 3-millionths of a second, according to geophysicist Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

SE Asia Tsunami photos

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Compiled by O'Board's Surfing News
Sources
www.sptimes.com
www.tsunami.org/faq.htm  

Tsunamis - Surfersvillage

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