What is a tsunami?
Q: What is a tsunami?
A: A tsunami is a natural disaster which is a series of fast-moving waves in the ocean caused by powerful earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, or simply an asteroid or a meteor crash inside the ocean.
Q: How does a tsunami start?
A: A tsunami starts as a small wave and builds up into a larger wave suddenly. The waves travel at great speed across an ocean with little energy loss.
Q: Where do tsunamis usually occur?
A: Tsunamis normally occur in the Pacific Ocean, especially in what is called the ring of fire, but can also occur in any large body of water like lakes and seas.
Q: What happens if the slope of the coast is not steep when there's a tsunami?
A: If the slope of the coast is not steep, then the water may pull back for hundreds of meters. People who do not know of this danger often remain at the shore.
Q: Is there any way to prevent tsunamis from happening?
A: Tsunamis cannot be prevented; however, there are ways to help stop people dying from them such as international and regional warning systems that issue alerts before big waves reach shore.
Q: What type of tsunami has been recorded as being deadliest?
A: The deadliest tsunami recorded in documented history was on 26 December 2004 and it was known as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. It was caused by an earthquake with magnitude 9.1 on Moment magnitude scale near Sumatra Indonesia resulting in over 230,000 deaths mainly along Indian Ocean shores.
Q: What type of tsunami is rare to happen?
A: Megatsunami which are mainly due to external impact on oceans such as Asteroid or Meteor crashes, Landslides or Rockslides are rare to happen
