TSUNAMI HAZARD

Tsunami Hazards A tsunami is a series of waves or surges most commonly caused by an earthquake beneath the sea floor. Tsunamis can cause great loss of life and property damage in coastal areas. Very large tsunamis can cause damage to coastal regions thousands of miles away from the earthquake that caused them. Beaches, lagoons, bays, estuaries, tidal flats and river mouths are the most dangerous places to be. It is rare for a tsunami to penetrate more than a mile inland. Tsunami waves are unlike normal coastal waves. Tsunamis are more like a river in flood or a sloping mountain of water. Tsunamis cannot be surfed. They have no face for a surfboard to dig into and are usually filled with debris. Large tsunamis may reach heights of twenty to fifty feet along the coast and even higher in a few locales. The first tsunami surge is not the highest and the largest surge may occur hours after the first wave. It is not possible to predict how many surges or how much ti...