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Tsunami : The Consequences Of Tsunamis And Its Causes

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 What is a tsunami?
A tsunami is described as a sequence of ocean or any large body of water waves caused by a natural disaster such as an earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide or meteorite. Tsunamis bring waves that are different from waves you at the coast or lake since their generated by powerful winds and are minute when compared to a tsunami. These waves can span over 100km wide and travel at approximately 700 kilometres an hour.

As a tsunami wave travels across the ocean it grows in height, being only slightly noticeable in the middle of the sea but as it continues towards the coast it will gain momentum and can reach up to heights of 40 meters causing the tide to hastily rise and fall.

 What is an earthquake?
An earthquake causes the ground to vibrate and shake intensely by an abrupt breaking of the tectonic plates. Tectonic plates can break at any moment due to stress and energy builds below the earth’s surface. When the stress surpasses the rocks strength it breaks along the edge of the tectonic plate, the build-up is released and forms a devastating earthquake. The edge of the tectonic plates have fault lines which are where earthquakes are most likely to occur since this is where the plates collide together and if the earthquake occurs in an ocean it has the potential to generate a tsunami depending on the earthquakes magnitude and intensity.

The earthquakes and a tsunamis intensity is measured on the Richter magnitude scale which assigns a number to each disaster to represent the size and power of them.

When a tectonic plate overrides, subducts or collides into another plate and an earthquake occurs at the epicentre and releases shockwaves which push the water upwards forming a series of waves. As the speed of the wave decreases near the shore the wave gains height and power.

• Investigate ONE serious recent tsunami that was caused by the activity of tectonic plates (for example 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami)– using newspaper articles and the Internet as your main reference sources, describe the location and size of the tsunami, describe the damage caused including the number of human casualties, and some stories from survivors on what the experience was like.

A forceful tsunami

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