Tsunamis, as deadly as they are, are difficult to predict and detect because they have a small wave height offshore, and a very long wavelength and it is for this reason they can pass unnoticed at sea, forming only a slight swell usually above the normal sea surface. Here’s a list of some of the worst tsunamis that ever struck the world.
The Sanriku Tsunami - On June 15, 1896, waves as high as 100 feet or 30 meters spawned by an earthquake that struck Honshu, swept the east coast of Japan. And as is often the case, the waves seemed to come from nowhere. "Fishermen twenty miles out to sea didn't notice the wave pass under their boats because it only had a height of about fifteen inches at the time," inform experts and professors from the University of Hawaii. Poor fishermen and the coast villagers were caught totally unprepared at the port of Sanriku. Old reports mention that some 27,000 people died in this killer tsunami.
Lituya Bay - On the night of July 7, 1958, a magnitude-8.0 or so earthquake struck along the Fairweather Fault, its epicenter just 21 km from Lityua Bay in Alaska. The earthquake caused a large landslide in the bay located within Glacier Bay National Park which triggered one of the largest tsunamis ever recorded in modern times. Waves reached a height of 1,720 feet in the bay, but because the area is relatively isolated and in a unique geologic setting, the tsunami did not cause much damage elsewhere. It sank a single boat, killing two fishermen.
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami - On Dec. 26, 2004, a colossal earthquake with a magnitude between 9.1 and 9.3 shook Indonesia and killed an estimated 230,000 people in 11 countries across the Indian Ocean. Most died due to the tsunami and the lack of aid afterward, coupled with deviating and unsanitary conditions. The quake was named the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, and the tsunami has become known as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Those waves traveled the globe as far as Nova Scotia and Peru.
Japan Tsunami - The magnitude-9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, was the largest known quake to strike the seismically active country and the world's fourth-largest earthquake in recorded history. While the quake itself was responsible for relatively few deaths, the massive tsunami it generated rapidly inundated coastal areas and took many residents by surprise; the raging waters accounted for the bulk of the deaths in the disaster. Some 20,000 people are still considered missing.
Hopefully, with each tragedy scientists and weathermen can learn more about early detection and warning systems. Never know when Mother Nature strikes again and brings us at her mercy.
