The Tsunami Disaster essays

The Tsunami Disaster essays The disastrous horror that came in the form of a massive tsunami has ravaged and devastated an incredibly large area and has left many people searching for family members, a new place to live, and for the answer to the question, What now? With an obscene amount of over 150,000 people already killed or missing and with that number expecting to be ballooned to a much higher figure by the time it is all said and done, this tsunami has without a doubt been the worst in recent history. The tsunami was unleashed by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake under the ocean, just off of the coast of Indonesia. This quake was one of the five largest since 1900. The aftershocks alone were shown as ranging in magnitude from almost 6 to 7.3. In comparison, the devastating San Francisco of the early nineties had an initial quake of 7.8, with aftershocks ranging from 3 to 4. The initial waves, traveling of upwards of 500 to 600 miles an hour towards the shower, initially are only a few feet in height so they are not noticeable in the open ocean. As the approach shallower water though, they slow down and reach much greater heights. With waves upwards of 20 feet crashing onto the shore, thousands of people were swept out to see with the initial waves. Studies show that the west coast is by no means safe from a tsunami of its own. The last great earthquake to strike the west was a 9.0 back in 1700 and it created tsunamis along the west coast and Japan. Scientists tell us that the fault has been locked ever since and is prime for another large disruption. Other faults deep beneath the Pacific could also cause tsunamis either by raising or lowering the ocean floor by shifting of the tectonic plates. These articles are a definite eye opener for anyone who is not so well informed on how tsunamis occur and how disastrous they can be. The authors of these particular articles not only show us the tragedy that occurred among the pe...