Quick facts about tsunamis

Here are some quick and interesting facts about tsunamis and their devastating power.

The origin of tsunami doesn't necessarily have to be an earthquake. Tsunami can also be a result of volcanic eruption, landslides, meteor hit, etc.

Tsunamis are most frequent in Japan, up to now there have been close to 200 recorded tsunamis in Japan.

The recent earthquake with the magnitude of 8,9 that caused the tsunami in Japan wasn't the strongest tsunami-causing earthquake. In 2004, a 9.3 magnitude earthquake in northern Sumatra, Indonesia caused a extremely powerful tsunami with waves as high as 10.5 m moving at a speed of up to 8 m per second.

In some cases the large earthquake is not needed to create large tsunami. The scientists have calculated that even a moderate earthquake on a strike-slip fault can lead to huge tsunami.

The most simple definition of a tsunami would be a serious of powerful water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of water.

Cities that lie near an area where two tectonic plates slide past each other (the so called strike-slip fault) have very high risk to be faced with destructive tsunamis. Los Angeles and Kingston are among these cities with very high tsunami risk.

The oldest recorder tsunami was the one that in the 365 A.D. devastated the ancient city of Alexandria.

The scientists have developed several different tsunami warning systems. The most important thing about tsunami warning system is that it needs to be flawlessly effective by allowing the perfect coordination of action for emergency officials. Today's computer models can predict tsunami arrival within minutes of the arrival time.

The destructive nature of tsunamis calls for building more resistant structures in areas with high tsunami risk in years to come.

The deep ocean tsunami has a wavelength of around 120 miles. More than three quarters of tsunamis (around 80%) occur in the Pacific Ocean.

It is still not possible (with the current technologies) to prevent tsunami from occurring. The best thing we can do is to try to reduce the damage by as much as possible (by for instance slowing tsunami, if possible of course).