AT U R EÊSF U N R Y NATUREÊS FURY TSUNAMI Anne Rooney
AT U R EÊSF U N R Y What Is a Tsunami What Is a Tsunami Atsunami is a huge wave that can flood the land with devastating effects The word tsunami is Japanese for harbour wave It is an appropriate name since it is when a tsunami hits a harbor or other area used by people that its destructive power is felt A tsunami can flood towns and villages with little warning destroying all in its path and killing people and animals When the wave retreats everything can be swept out to sea A tsunami floods houses in Oahu Hawaii in 1957 Tsunamis through time Tsunamis have probably been around as long as the sea One of the earliest descriptions was left by the Greek historian Thucydides who described a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea near Greece in 426 BCE The sea returned in a huge wave and invaded a great part of the town and retreated leaving some of it still underwater so that what was once land is now sea such of the 4
AT U R EÊSF U N R Y inhabitants perishing as could not run up to the higher ground in time Thucydides linked the tsunami to recent earthquakes in the area modern scientists would do the same What causes tsunamis Tsunamis are caused by a disturbance in or under the sea that makes a large volume of water move suddenly Most are caused by earthquakes though landslides volcanic eruptions and even meteorites falling into the sea can cause tsunamis Waves flow outward in a circle from the point where the disturbance happens like ripples spreading from a stone dropped in a pond CASE STUDY When the sea and sky fell Modern geologists point to evidence of a tsunami caused by a meteorite striking the Tasman Sea between 500 and 850 years ago This may explain a legend told by the people of Burragorang in New South Wales Australia One steamy hot night the people lay unable to sleep in their camp Just after sunset the sky shuddered heaved and tumbled crashing down on them The Milky Way split and stars fell including a gigantic burning blue star that tore the ground apart showering the people with chunks of earth and rock Later other tribes told of the whole ocean falling on them from above It then rained for weeks and the whole land was flooded The native peoples believed these events were caused by an angry ancestor in the sky A tsunami can have devastating effects if it strikes an area where people live and work W h a t I s a T s u n a m i 5
