Tsunami

There are several events that have happened that have an affect on the place that was hit and for people that live in the west coast to be aware that one day it can happen to them. The tsunami of 2004 in India, I remember that all my family would tell me that if a tsunami hits I will be first to be taken. My aunt´s family lives in Santa Ana California while I lived on the west coast of Newport Beach. I came to believe that I wave would actually take my house and I would be floating by my cousin´s house. As a child I had a big imagination.

The phenomenon "tsunami" is a series of traveling ocean waves of extremely long length generated by disturbances associated primarily with earthquakes occurring below or near the ocean floor. Underwater volcanic eruptions and landslides can also generate tsunamis. In the deep ocean, their length from wave crest to wave crest may be a hundred miles or more but with a wave height of only a few feet or less. They cannot be felt aboard ships nor can they be seen from the air in the open ocean. In deep water, the waves may reach speeds exceeding 500 miles per hour.
Tsunamis are a threat to life and property to anyone living near the ocean. For example, in 1992 and 1993 over 2,000 people were killed by tsunamis occurring in Nicaragua, Indonesia and Japan. Property damage was nearly one billion dollars. The 1960 Chile Earthquake generated a Pacific-wide tsunami that caused widespread death and destruction in Chile, Hawaii, Japan and other areas in the Pacific. Large tsunamis have been known to rise over 100 feet, while tsunamis 10 to 20 feet high can be very destructive and cause many deaths and injuries.
The Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific, comprised of 26 participating international Member States, monitors seismological and tidal stations throughout the Pacific Basin. The System evaluates potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes and disseminates tsunami warning information. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTW) is the operational center of the Pacific TWS. Located in Honolulu, Hawaii, PTWC provides tsunami warning information to national authorities in the Pacific Basin.