Tsunami's eerie warning sign

New York Daily News ^ | 12/28/04 | WILLIAM SHERMAN

[kattracks]

Five to 10 minutes before it strikes, a tsunami usually gives a powerful warning that's hard to miss from the shore.

It's not a roiling wave coming in, but the reverse - all the water in view going out to sea in the most massive and powerful undertow imaginable.

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon," said Brian Yanagi, Hawaii's program specialist for earthquakes and tsunamis.

"Our biggest worry is for surfers, swimmers and Boogie Boarders because that giant undertow starts quickly and moves out at about 30 mph, pulling everything down beneath the surface.

"If you're standing in waist-high water or even less, it will pull you out and down and kill you," he said.

Those on the shore have 10 minutes to reach high ground before the tsunami waves - actually walls of tumbling water - strike.

On April 1, 1946, before a tsunami struck the town of Hilo on the eastern shore of Hawaii island, the town's entire mile-wide harbor drained into the ocean.

"People came rushing down to see what happened, there were fish flopping around on the ground - and then the wave hit," said Ray Novell, spokesman for Hawaii's Civil Defense Department. More than 150 were killed in that incident.

That first killer wave is just the beginning of the tsunami. The big damage is caused by the third, fourth or fifth wave, according to Yanagi.

An undersea earthquake causes seismic shocks that produce numerous waves, each more powerful than the previous one in the cycle of massive undertows and debris gathered up and into the incoming waves, Yanagi said.

A tsunami can last from 30 minutes to 10 hours depending on the power and configuration of the original quake.

Originally published on December 28, 2004

[kattracks]

[William of Orange]

another reminder that mother nature is a far greater force than mankind ever will be, and we should remember.

[Critical Bill]

[goldstategop]

Simple physics. All that displaced water has to go somewhere. And so it goes to the most vulnerable low-lying area imaginable. They showed a tsunami on Miami:CSI a couple of weeks ago. As long you're on high ground, you're safe.

[Critical Bill]

Prince William Sound, Alaska, earthquake of March 27

photos

[Critical Bill]

Oops those Prince William Sound, Alaska photos are here

[SamAdams76]

Don't be so sure about that. Just over 100 years ago, people were saying it was impossible to fly. I'm sure future technology can control earthquakes and tsumamis. Probably by drilling holes in certain areas to relieve pressures.

Nature can and will be conquered.

[Critical Bill]

Probably by drilling holes in certain areas to relieve pressures.

That's the best idea I have heard of to date. They just need the technology to determine where pressure build-up's are in the earths mantle/crust.

[BunnySlippers]

Tsunami bump

[William of Orange]

That's the best idea I have heard of to date. They just need the technology to determine where pressure build-up's are in the earths mantle/crust.

won't drilling holes create the very tsunami's that you want to prevent?

[Critical Bill]

The part about his recent Tsunami is about what happened to all those divers/surfers and sunbathers. What a horrific experience. Imagine scuba diving and all of a sudden being sucked out to sea with all the coral rushing past you, and while you still have functioning scuba equipment, being unable to fathom what the hell is happening. A nightmarish experience I don't even want to contemplate.

[Critical Bill]

won't drilling holes create the very tsunami's that you want to prevent?

No sure how? We would be talking about 1 meter wide holes that would gradually release pressure.

[Proud_texan]

Here's a first hand report from a swimmer in Sri Lanka. Very different from what's described in this article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26784-2004Dec26.html?nav=hcmodule

[shubi]

I doubt if a few holes would help.

[Route101]

Maybe these countries should have taught their people geology 101.......

[Max in Utah]

Or Tsunami 101.

[twntaipan]

Maybe, but there hadn't been a tsunami in the Indian ocean since 1883, and with no living memory of an event, and extreme poverty, there would be little understanding of geology 101 or tsunami 101.

[Phsstpok]

Good article, but the image included continues one of the big misconceptions people have in trying to imagine Tsunamis. As I understand it there generally isn't a huge wave curl, like pictured, or like you see in surfing films. Go back to what these used to be called: Tidal Waves.

I've been told it's better to imagine the tide, coming in and going out, but at a much accelerated rate and up to 30 feet above and below normal (that's the outflow described). Yes, there are waves associated with this, but they are on top of this large surge of water. It's the surge that kills, just like in hurricanes.

Of course, then there's Larry Niven's description of a surfer trying to surf the 1,000 meter mega tsunami from a comet impact in the Pacific Ocean in Lucifer's Hammer. He almost made it. Nose bleed from the G forces and all. If only that high rise condo hadn't been built a half mile in from Malibu Beach....

[OKSooner]

Maybe nuclear bombs set off in the tsunami just as it's approaching shore to disperse it and vaporize the water into the atmosphere?

That might work.

[dirtboy]

Don't be so sure about that. Just over 100 years ago, people were saying it was impossible to fly. I'm sure future technology can control earthquakes and tsumamis. Probably by drilling holes in certain areas to relieve pressures.

The entire island of Sumatra moved laterally in this earthquake. Drilling vertical holes wouldn't relieve anything.

It's more likely that we'll be able to forecast major quakes and get people out of harm's way.