Tsunamis
WITNESS TO DISASTER
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong, nothing can surpass it.
—Lao Tzu,
Chinese Philosopher
Tsunamis
WITNESS TO DISASTER
JUDITH BLOOM FRADIN & DENNIS BRINDELL FRADIN
Text copyright © 2008 Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin
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ISBN: 978-1-4263-0980-9
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Photo Credits
Cover, John Russell/ AFP/ Getty Images; Back, Bettmann/ Corbis; spine, N. Silcock/ Shutterstock; 2-3, Rick Doyle/ Corbis; 5, Hermann M. Fritz, Georgia Institute of Technology; 6, Jose C. Borrero, University of Southern California; 8 both, IKONOS satellite imagery by GeoEye/ CRISP-Singapore; 9, AFP/ Getty Images; 10 both, Joanne Davis/ Polaris; 11 left & right, Joanne Davis/ Polaris; 11 bottom, Mark Pearson; 12, PH3 Tyler J. Clements, United States Navy; 13, Louis Evans, Curtin University of Technology; 14, Image: S. Lombeyda, Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research; V. Hjorleifsdottir and J. Tromp, Caltech Seismological Laboratory; R. Aster, Reprinted with permission from Science Volume 308, Number 5725 (20 May 2005); 15, U.S. Geological Survey; 16, U.S. Geological Survey; 18, O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory, Oregon State University; 19, Bretwood Higman, University of Washington; 20, NASA; 21 both, Koji Sasahara/ Associated Press; 22, Jose C. Borrero, University of Southern California; 24, Pacific Tsunami Museum; 27, Naval Historical Foundation; 29, Used with permission from the Stars and Stripes. © 1964, 2008 Stars and Stripes; 30, Corbis; 32, NOAA National Data Buoy Center; 33, NOAA West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center; 34, NOAA National Data Buoy Center; 35, Aaron Favila/ Associated Press; 36, NOAA National Data Buoy Center; 37, David Heikkila/ iStockphoto.com; 38, Tim Laman/ National Geographic Image Collection; 40-41, Adam Powell/ Taxi/ Getty Images; 42, Tatyana Makeyeva/ AFP/ Getty Images; 43, U.S. Geological Survey; 45, Bazuki Muhammad/ Reuters/ Corbis.
Version: 2017-07-06
CONTENTS
Introduction: Japan Tsunami
Chapter 1: “Like Niagara Falls Moving Towards Us”: Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004
Chapter 2: “A Wave 800 Feet Tall”: Tsunami Science
Chapter 3: “Everything Had Become Sea”: Some Historic Tsunamis
Chapter 4: “Out of the Blue”: Tsunami Warnings and Safety
Glossary
Further Reading and Research
Bibliography
Interviews by the Authors
Acknowledgments
Index
Introduction: Japan Tsunami
On the afternoon of March 11, 2011, a humungous earthquake struck northeastern Japan. It measured 9.0 on the magnitude scale. Only three larger quakes have shaken our planet in the past century.
The earthquake occurred when two large chunks of our planet’s crust fractured beneath the sea off the coast of Japan. The rupture thrust part of the ocean floor under the island nation, dropping its coastline two feet while lifting the land beneath the sea. This double motion caused the Pacific Ocean waters to slosh like soup in a bowl, creating massive waves called tsunami.
Because
