Although each classification of natural disaster is capable of creating catastrophic destruction, I

Throughout this unit, the Science in Practice class has been learning about natural disasters and the impact it has on humans and environment. The natural disaster that will be discussed in this report is the Boxing Day Tsunami, which occurred on the 26th of December, 2004. The tsunami took place in the Indian Ocean. Due to, two tectonics plates, the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate colliding, causing an underwater earthquake. Due to this awful disaster, people were killed, injured, diagnosed with diseases, homes and businesses were destroyed, the environment damaged.

Tsunamis occur when an earthquake happens in the ocean and the energy goes to the water creating huge waves. Tsunamis are very dangerous they can be so strong that they wash away the city, harm thousands, and cause hundreds of thousands to billions of dollars in damage. “A giant tsunami along the West Coast would wash away coastal towns, destroy U.S. Highway 101 and cause $70 billion in damage. More than 100 bridges would be lost, power lines toppled and coastal towns isolated. Residents would have as few as 15 minutes’ notice to flee to higher ground, and as many as 10,000 would die” (Dangerous tsunami threat off U.S. West Coast). This shows what kind of damage this geo-process can

Scientists have projected possible tsunami scenarios for coastal Oregon and Washington, based on the human impact of the 2004 Sumatra and 2011 Japan tsunami. An earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone could be as large as the one that hit Japan lastMarch, and the tsunami could reach the coast in 20 minutes (National Geographic Society [NGS], 1996). The tsunami could create a massive catastrophe killing over 10,000 people during the summer since the evacuation centers are sparse and some people have lower access to high ground (NGS, 1996). For instance, a resort town named Ocean Shores lies on a low-ground narrow peninsula and 5,500 people live there year-round (NGS, 1996). According to the National Geography Society (1996), a catastrophic

All along the coast of Central America the tsunami was observed. (February 4, 1965, Alaska Earthquake, Rat Islands, Magnitude 8.7) This earthquake was recorded at a magnitude 8.7 and caused a big tsunami of over 10 m on Shemya Island. It barely caused any damage, though. Just two months after the initial shock, an aftershock earthquake at a magnitude of 7.6 hit the same area. (March 28, 2005, Sumatra Earthquake aka Nias Earthquake) Just off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, was a devastating earthquake that killed 1,300 people. A majority of the devastation occurred on the island of Nias. The massive earthquake sparked a panic around countries along the Indian Ocean because there was a massive tsunami just three months earlier in December. ( August 15, 1950, Assam, Tibet Earthquake, Magnitude 8.6) There were at least 780 people who died in this 8.6 magnitude earthquake. Many buildings completely collapsed in areas of Eastern Tibet. Landslides and ground cracks/fractures ended up washing away and entire village. The village of Yedong collapsed into the Yarlung Zangbo River and literally washed

The effect of a tsunami are can also be global as in the 2004 tsunami that hit many countries and killed citizens of many other

From the case study above we can see that human influences were the main cause in the severity of the impact, but that’s not always the case, physical factors are just as important. This can be seen in the great Sumatra- Andaman earthquake which took place on the 26th of December 2004 and registered a 9.1 magnitude, one of the third biggest recorded quakes. The subduction of the Indo-Australian plate under the Burma plate triggered the tsunami responsible for the greatest loss of life in a tectonic event. A 15-20m slip occurred along 1600km of fault line in two phases over a period of around 3-4 minutes, the longest rupture ever recorded in an earthquake. The focus was located just 30km below sea level, which resulted in serval billion tonnes of water being displaced across

The U.S. west coast is very vulnerable to tsunamis. If a big quake hits Oregon’s fault, then it can generate tsunami waves up to 98 ft high. A tsunami in this region can threaten lives and damage the area from California to Alaska. Future tsunamis in the Cascadian Subduction Zone off the Pacific Northwest are possible.

In 2004, a tsunami took place in the Indian Ocean, originated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Reports from the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) “The tsunami caused more casualties than any other in recorded history and was recorded nearly world-wide on tide gauges in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Ocean”. “The USGS estimates that the sudden movement

On the 22nd of May 1960, the world’s largest earthquake which was documented occurred very close to Valdivia, Chile. The earthquake struck with a force of 9.5 magnitude. The earthquake pushed up a small area of the South Pacific Ocean, creating a massive tsunami travelling at 200 miles per hour across the ocean causing major damage to other countries and islands like Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines as well as the entire West Coast of the United States.

The earthquake and tsunami had crucial effects on the Japanese coast. It was one of the top five most powerful earthquake causing the tsunami recorded in the world. The resulting tsunami flooded dozens of coast cities, numerous ports. “Now it is estimated from aerial and satellite photography that an area of almost 500 km (200mi) was inundated. The natural process that occurred caused a highly dangerous hazard environment that endangered and killed many lives. Correspondly, to this disaster can be explained by the theory of plate tectonics. “The magnitude, size of a hazardous event as well as its frequency or how often it occurs may be influenced by human activity as a result of increasing human population and deficient land use practices events that are use to cause these natural catastrophes.”[1] To minimize certain mitigation it’s important to understand and research the aftermath of this event there are a lot of interesting and informational statistics. “About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. Equally important, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas have extremely high population. By all means, Japan is known for

On July 9th 1958 in Lituya bay Alaska, an earthquake indirectly caused what has been termed as a mega tsunami. The earthquake caused a landslide which in turn displaced enough water to create a gravity wave. The height of this wave was magnified above the height that might normally be expected due to the enclosed environment in which it generated. The world’s biggest tsunami the Alaskan wave.

Tsunami are commonly often associate with an earthquake but not all earthquakes generates tsunami. It depends on the movement of earth's plate. If earth's plate moved vertically much damage from tsunami would occur. For example, on December,26, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami shook Indonesia and killed an estimated 230,000 people, most due to the tsunami and the lack of aid afterward. (Live Science

Tsunamis have a very powerful, long reach. They can transport destructive energy from their source to coastlines thousands of kilometers away. Hawaii, because of its mid-ocean location, is especially vulnerable to tsunamis. Regardless of their origin, tsunamis evolve through three overlapping but distinct physical processes; generation by any force that disturbs the water column, propagation from deeper water near the source to shallow coastal areas, and inundation of dry land. Of these, the propagation phase is most understood, whereas generation and inundation are more difficult to model with computer simulations.

The Indian Ocean tsunami caused waves as high as 9 metres in some places and in other places witnesses described a rapid surging of the ocean. Flooding can extend inland by 300 metres or more. The extensive energy of a tsunami can lift huge objects, flip vehicles and demolish houses. The epicentre was close to some densely populated coastal communities such as Indonesia. They had little or no warning of the tsunami. The only sign came just before the tsunami struck when the waterline suddenly retreated exposing hundreds of metres of beach and seabed. There was no Indian Ocean tsunami warning system in place. This could have saved more people in surrounding

Early in the morning of December 26, 2004, an earthquake rocked the floor of the Indian Ocean. The 9.1-9.3 magnitude earthquake subsequently caused a series of catastrophic tsunamis to hit the coasts of Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and South Africa. The destruction was devastating, causing just under $10 billion in damage and an estimated $7 billion more in humanitarian aid. Although so much aid was sent to the affected areas, ten years later some of the areas are still suffering from the devastation. Looking back, the main cause of the devastation was the lack of warning systems in place. Although some places like Indonesia may not have had time to evacuate, many other affected areas had plenty of time but were completely uninformed, being taken by surprise. Following the tsunami the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System was created and put into place. A lot can be learned from the lack of warning and preparedness from this disaster in order to better prepare for the future (History.com, Rodgers).