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Explore one of the most dangerous and enigmatic forces on earth, tsunamis. See the science behind their devastating power. Understand where they come from and what we can do to better prepare. It's not if it will happen again, but when.

Tourists run for their lives as the first of six tsunamis starts to roll towards Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand. One woman runs towards the waves. Photo: AFP The woman continues to run as the wave advances.Photo: AFP With the waves engulfing boats, the woman makes contact with her group. It is not known if they survived.Photo: AFP

Magnitude 8.1 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA 2004 December 26 00:58:55 UTC Preliminary Earthquake Report West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:55 (UTC) on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The magnitude 8.1 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.) Magnitude 8.1 Date-Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:55 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 6:58:55 AM = local time at epicenter Location 3.400°N, 95.700°E Depth 40 km (24.9 miles) set by location program Region OFF THE...

It was the best of days. It was the worst of days. Not in recent history has a twenty-four hour span brought such bipolar emotions. In Ukraine, a tormented people exercized their freedom and elected Viktor Yushchenko, a maverick reformer who has pledged to fight the Kremlin’s ambitions to reinitiate Soviet Imperialism. But just a few thousand miles away, tens of thousands of people were perishing at the hands of Mother Earth. A tsunami from an earthquake has now killed what (current) estimates show to be over 44,000 people from Sri Lanka to Thailand to Eastern Africa. This is roughly...

How a tsunami develops A tsunami is made up of a series of travelling ocean waves of extremely long wavelength. They are triggered by large disturbances such as earthquakes, undersea volcanic eruptions or deep sea landslides. The figure below shows the amplitude, trough and crest of a tsunami wave in relation to the sea floor and still water level. Note how the wave shape changes and the height increases as it approaches the coastline. Effects of tsunami Tsunami are a threat to people and property in coastal and low-lying estuarine areas. The waves travel quickly, rapidly flooding and damaging coastal...

The earthquake/tidal wave disaster in the Indian Ocean has brought up some old discussions. Some liberal papers, perhaps for the first time, have admitted that mankind and its army of SUVs aren’t more powerful than the forces of Earth. And others are and will be at a loss to attack Evil America as it will undoubtedly contribute a great deal of time, money and resources to the disaster area. Of course, anti-God nuts will come out in full force blaming Him or saying He doesn’t exist. Here’s a good article for those people: Good God, Cruel World? By Krista Kay...

The largest earthquake in the past 40 years and the resulting deaths of thousands from 33-foot tidal waves are being compared by an American reporter to descriptions of disaster from Holy Scripture. "The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible – a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before," said Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs, who was swimming off a Sri Lankan island when the disaster struck this morning. "As the waters rose at an incredible rate, I half expected to catch sight of Noah's Ark. Instead of the Ark, I grabbed hold...

However, the government said two thirds of the capital was under about four feet (1.2 meters) of water in some areas. About a third of the country’s 330,000 population live in the highly congested capital island. Maldives is a cluster of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator and is vulnerable to any rise in sea levels. The fate of tens of thousands of tourists in the Maldives was not immediately known.