Ironically, in deep, open-ocean water, tsunami waves are often less than a meter high and can travel at speeds up to 1,000 kilometers per hour. Instead tsunamis can more accurately be described as a rapidly-rising tide without a developed wave face, which quickly and forcefully floods low-lying coastal areas. Q: WHY DOES THE OCEAN OFTEN RECEDES AWAY FROM SHORE JUST BEFORE A TSUNAMI WAVE HITS LAND?Ī: Although tsunamis are commonly depicted as a giant breaking wave with a crest towering over the land, this image is hardly if ever the case. The great Chile earthquake of 1960 (magnitude 9.6) had a foreshock that generated a tsunami, but that foreshock was exceptionally large, magnitude 7.9. No aftershocks of the magnitude 9.4 Alaska earthquake of 1964, nor of the magnitude 9.0 Central Aleutian earthquake of 1957 generated tsunamis large enough to be damaging. Such a large aftershock is now very unlikely. Ī: Yes, but only if the aftershock is very large. Q: Has a tsunami hit the Indian Ocean before?Ī: The 1883 Krakatau volcanic eruption has generated a destructive tsunami higher than 40 m on the Indonesian coast where more than 36 000 lives were lost. Of some concern is that sometimes, smaller earthquake might trigger underwater landslides which could generate tsunamis, but these tsunami generally only affect the area very near to the source., e.g., near Indonesia only.
While there have been many aftershock earthquakes in Indonesia, Nicobar and Andaman Islands in the last day (27 so far of magnitude greater than 5.4), none of these have generated tsunamis.
And, since not all earthquakes generate tsunamis, it is a very infrequent occurrence. From history, however, we do observe that large or great earthquake don't occur often. Q: "Can you tell whether there will be a similar tidal wave coming in the future from today, when and what will be the magnitude"Ī: Unfortunately, scientists cannot predict when the next large earthquake will occur, what its size will be, and whether a tsunami will be generated. These are based on real questions that we have received during the days after the disaster. On this page we provide answers to frequently ased questions about the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
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