Tsunami -1

Tsunami Hazards

A tsunami is a sea wave generated by an earthquake, landslide, volcanic eruption, or even by a large meteor hitting the ocean. (The Japanese word tsu means harbor; nami means wave.)
Things You Should Know:

• Although tsunamis in California are a rare, the entire California coastline is vulnerable to these events.
• A tsunami is a series of waves or surges most commonly caused by an earthquake beneath the sea floor.
• An unusual lowering of ocean water, exposing the sea floor, is a warning of a tsunami or other large wave. This “draw back” means the water will surge back strongly.
• Beaches, lagoons, bays, estuaries, tidal flats, and river mouths are the most dangerous places to be. It is rare for a tsunami to penetrate more than a mile inland.
• Tsunami waves are unlike normal coastal waves. Tsunamis are more like a river in flood or a sloping mountain of water and filled with debris.
• Tsunamis cannot be surfed. They have no face for a surfboard to dig into and are usually filled with debris.
• Large tsunamis may reach heights of twenty to fifty feet along the coast and even higher in a few locales.
• The first tsunami surge is not the highest and the largest surge may occur hours after the first wave.
• It is not possible to predict how many surges or how much time will elapse between waves for a particular tsunami.