[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.

[BunnySlippers]

Tsunami bump

[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.

[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

[Route101]

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

[William of Orange]

the article's writer is one William Sherman, any relation to the famous namesake?

[gitmo]

This was posted by EnjoyingLife on another thread.

April 1946: Tsunami inundating Hilo, Hawaii. Note the man on pier (lower left).
This disaster provided impetus for C&GS (Coast & Geodetic Survey) to establish the tsunami warning system.

Source: http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/c&gs/theb2705.htm
Big photo: http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/c&gs/images/big/theb2705.jpg
Credit: NOAA Photo Library, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA), United States Government

[Quix]

WOULD YOU PLEASE consider coming to this thread and setting them straight on the wildly astronomical impossibilities of drilling holes etc. and preventing such quakes and tsunamis? Several posters seem convinced that we'll have it all solved by technology before too long. Sigh.

[Vision]

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon"

I gotta see a picture of that

[Psycho_Bunny]

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon,"

If you're standing on a beach and the water starts to recede and you stand there long enough to watch it recede off into the horizon, Natural Selection is about to give you what you deserve for being a moron.

[PfromHoGro]

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon,"

Reminds me of the Far Side: "Nature's Subtle Sings of Danger" where the diver feeds a school of fish which then suddenly vanish.

[firewalk]

.