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Re: Tidal waves hit southern Asia
I studies Tsunamis or 'storm surges' at uni as part of my degree 'Environmental Hazards' was the unit.
Scientists have been warning that something like this would happen for years with the large populations living on the coasts of poorer countries, with poor fishing communities(India and Indonesia) being particularly at risk. The way it works is that its a large body of moving water that doesnt increase in height until it is around 100metres from the shoreline. Even so it never reaches the massive heights you see in the movies(deep impact etc). In fact they rarely rise above 10metres, there is however a massive volume of water involved. This is the reason that most people wouldnt see it coming until it is too late. Tsunamis always have very strong currents involved so if you get hit by one generally your going to be very lucky to escape.
They usually travel about 80-100mph or even more. The size of the surge does depend to a certain amount on the topography of the coastline as well as the location of the continental shelf. Usually before one strikes the tide goes out to an abnormally large degree however this can be dependant upon high/low tide.
There is actually evidence to suggest that a massive Tsunami hit the east coast of Scotland and Northern England thousands of years ago, its speculated that it went around 50miles inland and was caused by a massive landslide off the Norwegian coast(also that it is something that could happen again)
Pretty brief explanation, if anyones wanting to know more just ask and i can look it up, still have all my books.
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