tsunami

The word “tsunami” comes from two Japanese signs: “tsu” meaning harbor, and “nami” meaning wave, and describes a natural disaster in form of rogue waves, carrying enormous volumes of water. Most often the result of a submarine earthquake or volcano eruption, some tsunamis are known to travel at more than 500mph, although they usually slow down to around 50mph when they hit the shallows, or move inland. Most of tsunami’s destructive force comes from high kinetic energy of speeding water, that can destroy homes, infrastructure, and move heavy objects. The secondary damage comes when tsunami recedes to the sea, carrying away the debris.

The worst tsunamis in recorded history include a 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami (230,000 deaths), 1908 Messina tsunami and earthquake (123,000 deaths), 1775 Lisbon tsunami (around 100,000 deaths), and 1883 Karakatoa tsunami (36,000 deaths). The most recent deadly tsunami was the japanese tsunami of March 2011.

Sometimes, tsunamis take the form of a so-called mega-tsunami caused by violent occurrences, such as massive landslides. Mega-tsunamis are best known for the unusual height of the wave. The highest mega-tsunami on record was 524 meters high (1958, Lituya Bay in Alaska).

You can find some stories from tsunami survivors at phukettsunami.blogspot.com

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Original Technorati articles tagged “tsunami”

• in Technology
  What Went Wrong at Fukishima? 24 Hours to Meltdown
  What can we learn from the meltdown and man-made disaster at the Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant?
  by goldnugget / on Nov 2, 2011
• in Green
  Millions of Tons of Tsunami Refuse Could Reach U.S. Coast
  Millions of tons of tsunami debris is crossing the Pacific Ocean and will be arriving on US Shores in 2014
  by goldnugget / on Oct 25, 2011
• in Advertising
  Why Google+ Can’t Kill Facebook!
  At the bottom of it all, Google+ is, essentially social network served in bottles! In contrast, the tsunami of free flowing Facebook is only in the making as explored in this article!
  by forgevalley / on Jun 29, 2011

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “tsunami”

 

• Japan continues the search for tsunami missing

  
  Techno-Guru - Latest Technology News India, Latest Breaking Bollywood News of India, Online Shopping — Authority: 133
  Leaden winter skies lour on a coastguard boat as it cuts its way through the seas off Japan’s tsunami-wrecked shores. Somewhere under these unforgiving grey waters lie hundreds, perhaps thousands of bodies; the unfound, unclaimed dead of one of the country’s worst ever disasters. Even though the hunt on these ...
  22 hours ago

• An intensive tsunami-warning dream from Krispy

  
  2012. The big wobble — Authority: 123
  Hello folks, I just woke up from a wierd and intensive dream. A tsunami-warning was given but I dont know the country. In my dream a huge "walking stick" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmatodea ) that I had as a pet for many years, was on my upperarm. I arrived at a huge glashouse where somebody else had ...
  2 days ago

• Delhi’s high-rises vulnerable to Himalayan quake (Jan 26 is anniversary of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake)

  
  Thaindian News — Authority: 534
  Bangalore, Jan 25 (IANS) Tall buildings in Delhi will come crashing down if a strong earthquake occurs in the northwest region of the Himalayas, warns a research seismologist who had predicted the Sumatran quake that caused the deadly tsunami in 2004.Buildings taller than 17 metres in the nation’s capital are ...
  5 days ago

• Oil imports, earthquake push Japan into 1st trade deficit in 32 years

  
  GenevaLunch — Authority: 429
  GenevaLunch.com GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Japan has announced its first trade deficit since 1980, Y2.49tn ($32bn), with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda saying it will take until 2014 for a turn-around. Analysts, according to the financial press, are gloomier about Japan’s short- to mid-term prospects for avoiding a ...
  5 days ago

• Japan Wants UN Atomic Agency in Fukushima

  
  Discovery News - Technology — Authority: 133
  Tokyo wants an international seal of approval for the energy-hungry countrys nuclear industry, but has failed to inspire confidence.
  1 week ago

• ‘Tsunami’ - watch it at your own risk (Kannada Movie Review)

  
  Thaindian News — Authority: 534
  Film: “Tsunami”; Cast: Raju Patil, Sonia, Rangayana Raghu, Doddanna, Tennis Krishna, Bullet Prakash, Gazar Khan, Killer Venkatesh and Bank Janardhan; Director: Makam Manohar; Producer: Raju Patil; Cinematography: Gauri Venkatesh; Music: Sadguna Raj; Rating: *Before you think that the film is about tsunami, the ...
  1 week ago

• First video of Fukushima reactor

  
  top99news - breaking news from the world top newspapers — Authority: 163
  http://www.bbc.co.uk First video of Fukushima reactor The first footage of the inside of one of Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear reactors at Fukushima is released by the stricken plant’s operator. published date:Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:11:19 GMT
  1 week ago

• Endoscope Probe Inside Marred Japan Reactor

  
  top99news - breaking news from the world top newspapers — Authority: 163
  http://abcnews.go.com Endoscope Probe Inside Marred Japan Reactor Endoscope probe at tsunami-hit Japan nuke plant to look inside reactor first time since crisis published date:Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:13:30 -0500
  1 week ago

• Record Natural Disaster Losses in 2011

  
  Geology News — Authority: 123
  “The United Nations reports 2011 was the costliest year in history for catastrophes. It says economic losses from natural disasters, including earthquakes , storms and floods , amounted to $366 billion.” Quoted from the Voice of America article.
  1 week ago

• Shipping Container School Built In Four Weeks After Earthquake In Chile

  
  Container Living. Net — Authority: 108
  Photos: VientoFuerte.cl. When a tsunami hit Chile a devastated town left in its wake lost its school, local university students were able to rebuild the school within four weeks. Tabul is around 500km south west of Santiago and one of the worst areas hit by the tsunami. Finis Terrae University architecture department ...
  1 week ago

• Live Chat Now: Nuclear Power in the Wake of Fukushima

  
  Wired Science — Authority: 722
  Watch Nuclear Aftershocks Preview on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE. Japan’s Fukushima disaster last spring hit the nuclear industry like, well, an atom bomb. Twenty thousand Japanese were crushed, burned or drowned in the earthquake and tsunami that followed. Almost incredibly, when the smoke cleared over ...
  1 week ago

• Japan earthquake, other natural disasters cost $366 billion in 2011, UN says

  
  God of Information — Authority: 139
  Natural disasters such as the huge earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan caused a record $366 billion (285 million euros) damage in 2011, the UN disaster risk reduction agency UNISDR said on January 18, 2012.
  1 week ago

• Southland

  
  Smoat — Authority: 143
  Buoyancy returning to rural property market – Stuff The fundamentals of dairying look very good.” Most interest was in the large-scale dairying heartland areas of Waikato, Canterbury and Southland. Taranaki was also doing well, but did not generally have large-scale farming. “People looking to invest in … ...
  1 week ago

• Japan to keep nuke plants running after 40-year cap

  
  4unews — Authority: 147
  TOKYO – Japan’s nuclear plants could run for up to 60 years. The Japanese government said Wednesday that its plan to shutter nuclear plants after 40 years could be given an exemption despite concern about the country’s aging reactors. Most of the country’s nuclear reactorts were built in the late 1960s many ...
  1 week ago

• Photohoku Project Provides Smiles And Memories

  
  Trends in Japan - Marketing and Innovation from Tokyo — Authority: 102
  Since the disasters in Japan last year there have been numerous large scale and small scale relief projects trying to rebuild and revive the worst affected regions. We have followed a few of them along the way such as the Design creation project and the Tohoku Cotton project , as well as the Creative commons ...
  1 week ago

• Dot Earth Blog: A Fresh Look at Nuclear Power, from Fukushima to the Hudson

  
  NYT > Theater — Authority: 865
  A PBS program takes a useful look at nuclear fears and realities in the wake of the Fukushima calamity.
  1 week ago

• Lens Blog: A Melancholy Homecoming in Tokyo

  
  top99news - breaking news from the world top newspapers — Authority: 163
  http://www.nytimes.com/ Lens Blog: A Melancholy Homecoming in Tokyo Twenty tears after leaving his homeland, Hiroyuki Ito returned to Tokyo to bury his Father. He felt out of place and sad. “Even when the sky was clear, I kept seeing red rain, as if a filter was over my eyes.” After an intense season ...
  1 week ago

• Radioactive Concrete From Fukushima Found In New Japanese Building

  
  INHABITAT — Authority: 695
  Following last year’s  nuclear disaster in Fukushima, there has been a great deal of public concern over the contamination of local food sources and water and now, newly constructed buildings can be added to the list of radiation fears in Japan. A three-month long survey of students in Nihonmatsu City turned ...
  1 week ago

• Scientist Warned of Tsunami Disaster in Japan

  
  PRI's The World — Authority: 601
  By Miles O’Brien Koji Minoura is a paleontologist – he studies fossils and rocks – but he’s become something of a celebrity in Japan, for an unfortunate reason. Long before last year’s massive earthquake and tsunami, Minoura had warned that just such a disaster was in the offing. Minoura works at Tohoku ...
  1 week ago

• Lens Blog: A Melancholy Homecoming in Tokyo

  
  NYT > Theater — Authority: 865
  Twenty tears after leaving his homeland, Hiroyuki Ito returned to Tokyo to bury his Father. He felt out of place and sad. "Even when the sky was clear, I kept seeing red rain, as if a filter was over my eyes." After an intense season of loss, the red rain itself also vanished.
  1 week ago

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