Maldives. The destructive earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia (2004) are the tsunami in the Maldives

I'll tell you about some aspects of security. To start some introductory information. Most of the resorts in the Maldives are separate standing island where there are nothing more in addition to the hotel. Therefore, there is a priori safe.

Is it worth fear sharks

How we told the sea biologist of one of the hotels for last years 30 In the Maldives, the case of the shark attack is not fixed. During the diving, we saw only small (half meter). According to her, if you yourself do not climb them, there will be no problems.

Is it worthwhile to fear

Local very friendly, tourism for this country is still the main source of income. At the exit from the airport, any of the meetings (even if it is not your hotel), if you see you in confusion, you will definitely fit and prompt to which rack transfer

Is it safe to fly on the hydroplane to the island

For those who do not know before the islands you can get either by boat or on the hydroplane. Yes, flying on hydroplanes safely. For 28 years, TMA (TRANS MALDIVIAN AIRLINES) has been recorded only several incidents, both are associated with a collision of the aircraft with some object, but not with a crash during flight. There were no fatal victims.

Are Tsunami in Maldives

According to the manager of the hotel, the Maldives are protected from tsunami reef. Those. The wave is broken and weakens. Of course, during the Tsunami in Indonesia, in the Maldives, an increased water level was also observed and some sharply subdued, but there were no such destruction in Tae or Indonesia

Is it safe to go on an excursion in Male

In my opinion safely. This is an ordinary Asian city, the local guide also confirmed that there should be no problems. We calmly moved around the city, did the photo, nobody watched on us.

On the eve of the New Year, the whole world shocked the terrible news: the giant tsunami was flooded with Thailand, the India was injured, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives would be shoved from the face of the earth.

However, the tsunami in the Maldives, held in December 2004, were less than in other regions, such as Andaman or Sri Lanka. But still gigantic waves destroyed part of the coastal area.

As a result of the actions of the element, hundreds of people died and many were injured (especially those who lived in the bungalow along the coastline). Maldives They brought a lot of destruction, and the local government immediately took a number of measures to protect people.

Tsunami caused panic fear of local residents and tourists, vacationers in Maldives.

The Maldives government pledged to guarantee the safety of the population and tourists and made a number of measures to prevent destructive actions with tsunami. Airplanes were purchased to evacuate people in case of disasters. Communication equipment has been established to contact relatives to the tourists.

Hotels and resorts have also taken the necessary measures to protect the rest in the case of Tsunami. They provided tourists with the necessary reserves of drinking water, products (especially for children). Organized safe delivery from the airport. Also, hotels and resorts offer a wide range of services for the orders of tickets of local and international airlinesSo that holidaymakers can easily return home at any time. The consequences, of course, catastrophic, but the information about the Maldives was extremely unreliable.

According to environmentalists, the degree of destruction from the tsunami of coastal areas South-East Asia It was thoroughly influenced by the state of natural coastal ecosystems, which are ready to soften the blow of the elements and reduce the minimum number of human and financial costs. Since the coral reefs suggest a natural barrier against the destructive power of the tsunami, they take on the main blow of the waves and destroy it before it reaches the coastline. Only Maldives lead a specially state-to-political guard of their own coral reefs, unlike other countries, where the reefs recently were largely injured by human fault: from pollution of water, destructive fisheries, saturated formation of aquaculture and turbines. Experts approve that in many ways thanks to the belief of coral reefs, which is framed by a protective ring, thus the tsunami in the Maldives brought many times less damage than in other coastal zones of the Southeast Asian countries.

People who sent to the Maldives after the catastrophe were amazed by the fact that they did not find any terrifying consequences, but only a flooded coastal zone and absolutely whole, untouched structures. Those who rested on the neighboring islands did not notice at all that was tsunami. However, many vacationers were shocked and demanded the aircraft of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in order to leave the ill-fated place. Many soon made sure that their lives would not threaten anything.

Meanwhile, many tourists refused their rest, and now the Maldives are empty completely undeservedly. Europe, having received a green signal, already rushed into a tropical paradise. To Russia, unfortunately, good news reunw to late.

Teymur Bagirov, read, will be interested.

- Important component better rest on the snow white beaches surrounded by palm trees and warm sea with turquoise water. In our experience, safety there is at a fairly high level, and crime on the islands and in hotels, judging by the reviews, practically no. So this country is officially considered not dangerous for tourists. Therefore, many holidaymakers in the Maldives mistakenly make a special meaning of their safety until they personally encounter sudden problems. So as not to spoil your long-awaited incident, we advise you to read our article about simple rules Security during rest and stick to them.

Are the Maldives? Immediately I will say that despite the pictures of paradise, the Maldives are not the safest country in the world for tourists. It would seem that if most of the individual is in some islands, and there are nothing more in addition to the hotel, then what is there to be afraid? There are no dangerous animals there, there are few insects, and indeed nothing terrible happens.

• Judging by the news and reviews of tourists, the political situation in stabilized at the end of the 2018 presidential election.
• Riots in the Maldives, who previously visited the capital quite rarely, after changing the authorities at all silent.
• Plus, the police and law enforcement agencies now work there now, so resting you can safely walk along the capital, which recently built.
• BUT local residents We behave very friendly and ready to help tourists for free, because the country's economy depends on.

However, with careless tourists in the Maldives sometimes there are unpleasant stories such as overheating in the sun or injury during swimming over. So it is better to know the features of resting at sea in advance and follow the rules of behavior on the beach and on the water to reduce the chance of an accident to a minimum.

Interesting fact: Maldives occupy the third place in the world on road safety for drivers and passengers (after San Marino and Micronesia Islands). Every year, 100,000 inhabitants have only 1.9 cases of death in an accident, which are mainly connected with motorcycles and mopeds. But is it surprising, considering a very small number of roads in the Maldives?

Maldives are an amazing place that is wonderfully suitable for both for and for. The ride to the best in the world will be quite safe and will definitely become bright and memorable.

Interesting to know: A big plus of rest in the Maldives in terms of safety for health and internal comfort is a small difference between time zones. In the summer and in winter, the Moscow is just 2 hours. Therefore, during the rest, there will be no long to be rebuilt on a new day of the day because of Jet lag.

You know, there is almost nothing to do in the Maldives, what can be afraid. So do not worry, you can ride completely calmly. Even if you are disliked insects, snakes and other indney creatures, the Maldives are a place for you! No spiders nor cockroaches here! In contrast, where they may appear at the most inopportune moment, in the Maldives everything is fine with this, because in this tropical country there are no insects and reptiles who suddenly break into your paradise idyll.

• In the Maldives there are no dangerous infections and poisonous snakes, few insects (only in the rainy season there are mosquitoes)
• There are no strong currents in the lagoons, and small grid and shells on the shore can hardly become a source of danger.
• Crime in Maldives is at a very low level, because no one wants to be in.

How to go on your own

Before traveling to the Maldives is very important to clarify a number of questions for themselves. After you decide for yourself, you need to buy tickets to the best minutes of your dates, book a hotel and purchase insurance. To eliminate unnecessary risks associated with the work of a plurality of intermediaries, we recommend doing it all. Moreover, it is not necessary for not required, accordingly, visa support is not needed.

See also:

• It is important to remember that Friday in Maldives is a day off. Therefore, if you decide, do not book tickets to Male on Friday, so as not to sleep in the capital or on neighted Island Waiting for its ferry or transfer, which will be only on Saturday.
• We also advise you to fly to the Maldives no later than 4 pm in order to have time to get to your island on the same day. This is due to the fact that in the evening there it raises quickly, so in order to safety with the onset of twilight, ferries do not walk there and planes do not fly, and you can only get to the boat before, whose representatives will meet you at the exit from.

We recommend choosing the right flights to Maldives - on the Avials website. See also low-cost calendar options:

Hotel reservation

The next step after buying tickets will be the booking of the hotel on it. We advise you to use a secure system. online booking On Booking.com website. We ourselves always use it in our travels (read our). Especially Buking. It is convenient for us to do not require prepayment. Almost always pay for accommodation in place, before leaving the hotel. It saves your nerves and money, allowing you to even change your mind and give up rest without fine (depends on the booking conditions).

Here best hotels In Maldives with a high rating:

• TROPIC TREE 3 *
  rating 9.1 , price for two from 55 to 120 $ a day, with breakfast
• Thoddoo Retreat 3 *
  rating 9.4 , price for two from 45 to 90 $ in a day
• Sun Island Resort & Spa 4 * ()
  rating 8.7 , price for two from 150 to 450 $ in a day
• Kurumba Maldives 5 * all inclusive ()
  rating 9.1 , price for two from 270 to 1600 $ in a day
• Anantara Dhigu Maldives Resort 5 *
  rating 9.0 , price for two from 490 to $ 2500 in a day
• Jumeirah Vittaveli 5 *
  rating 9.0 , price for two from 1900 to $ 35000 in a day
• CONRAD MALDIVES RANGALI ISLAND 5 * ()
  rating 9.1 , price for two from 650 to 7000 $ in a day
• One & ONLY REETHI RAH 5 *
  rating 9.1 , price for two from $ 1500 to $ 25000 in a day
• Cheval Blanc Randheli 5 *
  rating 9.5 , price for two from 2250 to $ 6500 in a day
• Soneva Jani 5 *
  rating 9.0 , price for two from 3300 to 11000 $ in a day

By the way, pay attention to the fact that many travel agencies have recently went bankrupt (even leading!), Who could not not only send their clients to the long-awaited stay, but also money did not return. Agree, there is something to think about and try to protect your money, solving the issue with the hotel without unnecessary intermediaries and commissions. Especially, make it pretty easy - read our.

The earthquake that happened on December 26, 2004 off the coast of Indonesia was the cause of a giant wave - tsunami recognized by the most deadly natural disaster in modern history.

The epicenter of the catastrophe was located at a depth of about 20 kilometers under the bottom of the ocean about 200 kilometers west of the northern tip of the island of Sumatra (Indonesia). The length of the earthquake focus in the direction of the North-North-West (Andaman Sea) - the South-Southeast (along the coast of Sumatra) amounted to more than a thousand kilometers.

The energy released during an earthquake is approximately equal to the energy of the entire global stock of nuclear weapons or annual world energy consumption.

After this natural catastrophe of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), UNESCO was charged to develop and implement a tsunami warning system and mitigate their consequences in the Indian Ocean. In 2005, an intergovernmental coordination group was established. As a result of an eight-year-old international cooperation under the auspices of the IOC, the tsunami warning system was commissioned in March 2013, when regional tsunami tracking centers in Australia, India and Indonesia have taken responsibility for the transfer of warnings about tsunami to countries Indian Ocean.

Material prepared on the basis of RIA news and open sources

Text: Alexander Ivanov
Photo: Vladimir Smolyakov

The ocean is never completely calm. The waves of an endless turn roll to the shore, reluctantly lick the beach and dissolve in Besrenem aqueous spacious. Equal rustling of waves and with nothing comparable smell of the sea - here are factors, the imaging of the centuries acting on a person's philosophical philosophical ... And when the first wave appeared (it was only two times higher than the rest), almost no one noticed. Another one after two came the second wave, pouring meters by fifty beaches and flushing some things of vacationers (which was caused by a jokestock). And then the sea began to retreat, exposing the bottom. Over the next two and a half hours coastline It was moved to meters for seven hundred in the ocean. Inquisitive, but, apparently, not too educated people in joyful excitement wandered over shamechambers, collecting shells and small fish. All this lasted until the third wave came ...

The foreseeable story of mankind (we naively believe that we know almost everything about this period) has several millennia. According to human standards, it is a lot, but on cosmic or geological - even not a moment. Take at least dinosaurs. According to approximate counts of scientists, these monsters died 65 million years ago! So, such an abyss of time, the human brain is simply not able to realize. The memory of man is generally surprisingly short, and our children perceive the monstrous cataclysms of the XX century as something prehistoric. But the Second World War ended only 60 years ago, and witnesses are still alive ...

Retrospective

The European man in the street is spoiled. All catastrophes and wars moved away in time or, at worst, in space. Well, tell me who from now living remembers the word "Krakatau"? Yes, almost no one. In general, we are all overwhelmingly sure that there is enough planetary comfort and peace of mind ...

After a terrible disaster, comprehended by South Asia, we begin to clearly understand: humanity in general and its specific representatives in particular are not insured against anything. Indian and other oceans far? Do you know that in the Caspian Lake, too, there are faults (in 1895, a wave caused by an earthquake on Caspian, completely flooded the coastal village of Uzun-Hell)? And, if under his serene surface, it shakes more stronger, it will fill not only Iran with Azerbaijan, but also, for example, Astrakhan. Already closer, isn't it?

By the way, our brother journalist hurried at the south of Asia Tsunami, "the biggest catastrophe in the entire history of mankind". But this, to put it mildly, does not correspond to reality. Do you know what the above-mentioned Krakataau is? And this is just a small volcanic island In the same Indonesia. So, he smoked for centuries, smoked, sometimes hesitated. And in 1883 Krakatau exploded. The result is terrible - the ocean wave is 20 meters high and 36,000 victims! Who remembers? And after all, and one and a half years have not passed. That and it ...

Or an example of another kind. In 1931, the Yangtze River spilled. From flooding, hunger and epidemics died at least 3,000,000 people (no, no, you were not mistaken with counting zeros, it was three million)! No one moved: first, it is the Chinese, and secondly, far away. But you can find mournful examples and closer ... 1201, Mediterranean Sea. The earthquake took over a million human souls in Syria and Egypt. But for the planet is 800 years old - no time, and geological processes under the Mediterranean continue.

A wave that fell in 1775 on the shores of Portugal, Spain and North Africa, destroyed more than 70,000 people. But this, so to speak, our "inland" tsunami, that is, the tsunami caused by our planet with you. And there are still tsunami "cosmic" caused by clashes with meteorites. Thus, a cobbled size of about 10 kilometers in the diameter at one time, pleased in the Yucatan peninsula (Mexico), forming a 30-kilometer funnel. North America It burned down, and about the height of the waves can only guess. A little (on geological scale) later, the cosmic block hit in the Pacific Ocean closer to Antarctica. Here, about the height of the wave can be guessing more specifically. For example, on the remnants of living organisms thrown by tsunami to a height of several hundred meters (Andes). Can you imagine such a van? Me not. And I do not want. But, no matter how cool, it is still an exotic. And with cosmic stones, the Earth is rarely found. But the "homework" tsunami will happen tens once a year. So what is this phenomenon?

Modern science says that the tsunami is a special genus of a wave of intormal origin, which caused most often with an underwater earthquake. The distance between the ridge of the wave and the depression in the open sea can be hundreds of kilometers, and the height is no more than meter. For shipping, they are practically safe (the ship such a wave can simply not notice). But the tsunami in the open sea spend their energy quite slowly and can spread to very long distances. When the wave reaches a shallow water, and even more so in narrowness (bay, bay, harbor), it turns into the most monster - the wall of water with a height of up to several tens of meters. In fact, "Tsunami" - the word Japanese and means nothing but the "wave in the harbor". The Japanese know what they say: they have a circle around them, and the seismic zones "under the side" ... June 15, 1896 in the field of Sunrick closer to the evening the inhabitants felt underground shocks. People lived by the sea and understood how it could turn into, so they rushed into the mountains. But since nothing happened, they returned after a while, and, returning, they saw that the sea was moved away from the shore ... it was too late to run, and the seven 35-meter waves fired three provinces with the ground (800 kilometers of the coast). 27,000 victims. But notice: Fishermen, who were at this time at sea, just did not notice anything ...

Third wave

And now it came on December 26, 2004 ... Earthquake (the strongest over forty years in the area) occurred under the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the rippling line off the coast of the island of Sumatra and caused vertical (and up and down) ocean dw offset. The area of \u200b\u200bthe zone was 1200 kilometers in length and approximately 100 kilometers in width.

The energy elected at the same time was monstrous, but only one percent went on the formation of actually waves. But it was enough. Yes, in the open sea, the wave height did not exceed 60 centimeters, but at the same time the water shaft had a speed of 800 kilometers per hour! And since the spill went about from the north to south, the waves of the tsunami ran in the perpendicular direction - to the West and east. In the East, the island of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Thailand, in the West - India and Sri Lanka. These countries and suffered most of all.

What experts advise to do when tsunami occur? Natural signal about the possibility of tsunami is an earthquake. Before the arrival of the wave, water, as a rule, retreats away from the coast, exposing the seabed for hundreds of meters (and sometimes a few kilometers), and this tide can last both minutes and hours. The movement of the waves can be accompanied by bulk-like sounds that are heard long before the tsunami approach (for example, it was in Japan in 1895). And yet, we have a frank distrust of "anti-tone" measures recommended by some experts, including such advice, how to climb on the roofs and hide under ... dining tables (this is not a fiction, the author read similar to his own eyes!) ...

To prevent people about danger, you need a warning system. In the Indian Ocean, there is still no such. But in a quiet, on the contrary, the international warning system has long existed, and in particular, in particular east Coast Thailand ...

Today, the "wave" warning system is capable of notifying the danger in 3-14 hours. But since the wave sensors are not installed in the region (seismologists simply registered a strong earthquake), there was no possibility to determine the direction of movement of the tsunami. The only "wave" station, which south of the epicenter, registered a tsunami with a height of less than two feet moving towards Australia.

Waves hit both the beaches of the resorts of the Western Coast of Thailand. Yes, Thailand enters the International Tsunami Prevention System, but on His west coast No wave sensors (they are installed on buoyes in the ocean). Northern Earthquake Earthquake Localized near Andaman IslandsAnd the waves went to the east, in the direction of the Thai resort of Phuket. It happened in the morning on Sunday, when people just woke up. As a result of the earthquake of the force of nine points, water walls with a two-storey house moved to the West through the Bengal Bay and struck the inhabitants of coasts. A few hours after the earthquake, a series of strong jolts occurred on Sumatra. According to scientists, the earthquake began on the fracture line in the depths of the ocean off the coast of Sumatra, and then spread to the north and south, reaching the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the north between India and Myanmar. Apparently, the seabed was deformed along the entire length of this fault.

And when the water is gone ...

Even if you remember that exactly a year before the current catastrophe (December 26, 2003), more than 40,000 human lives took the earthquake in the province of Kerman (Iran), the fact that happened in the Indian Ocean basin was truly monstrously. 230,000 dead practically at the same time - with such humanity did not come across for a long time. And from the tsunami - never. In this sense, this is really the greatest catastrophe in history.

This nightmare and had to fly the fighters of the aerobile rescue unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia. I must say that people who have come all the continents work in the Centznpas. They were in Turkey and in Taiwan, in Colombia and India. But such see did not have to see. 12 hours after receiving the news of the catastrophe, the detachment was moved by transport IL-76 in Sri Lanka at the airfield near the capital of Colombo Island. The fighters of the detachment were ready to start rescue work immediately, but then the notorious "human factor" intervened. It is no secret that on our planet, except natural factors, unfortunately, political factors act. BUT South Asia - It is not at all a paradise (separatism blooms there with terry color). Thus, in the Indonesian province of Aceh, rescue works were difficult because of the actions of the rebels requiring ... a clear case, independence. And it is difficult to such an extent that the authorities initially refused to let anyone there anyway. The same in Sri Lanka.

Since the country does not subside civil WarThe Lankan Government could not guarantee the safety of our people. For this reason, our leadership, in turn, did not give permission to nominate the EFC, as a result of which, after a few days, our rescuers were able to move to the north of the island in the direction of the cities of Lavinia and moratorure. In the north and northeast of the country there are troops of the so-called Tamil-Ilama liberation (TOTO). And the authorities have not decided for a long time to miss our rescuers for these territories. Well, when the resolution was finally obtained, the detachment moved further to the north in the direction of the city of Galle. On the way, it was necessary to disassemble the destroyed roads, work on the bumps, cut concrete blocks. But since by this time it was practically no one to save, then the main burden fell on doctors. There were four of them, and everyone provided assistance to about fifty victims per day. The danger of epidemics exists to this day - the heat is tropical, the humidity is almost 100%. Now the doctors of the detachment changed the mobile hospital of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

And what are the search dogs? "Our dogs are looking for alive," one of those who visited us. - The corpses for them are shock. " And for us? Buddhist monasteries and catholic chosets were told by Buddhist monasteries and the Catholic churches, and it was where our doctors went on a specially equipped Land Rover Defender. At this time, two other "Defa" with the crews of rescuers worked in the zone of destruction. They saw everything: and sweened homes, and thrown on the shore of the court, and an inverted train, in which a thousand people died, and the ruins of Sunday school, where there are 390 children left ... But because of the bureaucratic wires, in the rescue of people, the detachment practically did not take participation. When the cars got to the passage zone of the wave, all the bodies were already extracted - to disassemble the village house is easy. As a result, doctors were most in demand. And still injured people need food, water, medicines and blankets. All this must be bought, bring and distribute. So, people, cars, ships and aircraft are needed. UN Humanitarian Operations is replied by the Deputy Secretary General Yang Egleland from Norway. But as it turned out, his organization is so bureaucratic, it works so slowly and inefficient that with the task of this scale can not cope with the definition. Apparently, this is another of the reasons why our guys spent a few hottest days outside the catastrophe zone.

Forecast for the day after tomorrow

What can wait for us in the future? American scientists, leading permanent monitoring of seismic activity in the zone of the Pacific Ocean, warn: geological activity is growing. And if an event is happening, similar to the current one, but with another vector, in the flood zone there may be a significant territory of California and other Western states of the United States. The Atlantic Ocean also does not sleep ... Recently, a hypothesis was put forward that when a volcanic explosion, Canary Islandsmay have a wave of one kilometer height! End of old woman europe? So, are we completely defenseless? Not really. The danger warning system tsunami exists on Pacific Ocean. Now it is decided to create a similar service and on the Ocean Indian.

Forewarned is forearmed.

And one moment. Countries such as Japan or Holland have accumulated huge experience in combating water elements. Damping system, embankments and other engineering facilities It is quite reliable to protect them. So from a technological point of view, you can make a lot. The main thing is to do. And the steps in this direction are already underway - the international conference is being prepared. Well, it fails to deal with poverty, try to fight natural disasters. Perhaps it is an understanding that it will not be possible to sit down, makes the governments and the ordinary people they led a little about others. In the meantime, it remains just to honor the memory of 230,000 dead.

P. S. We probably became a little smarter if the "side" with rescuers fly across the borders of states, ready to give art with everyone who needs it. And structures similar to the State Central Aircraft Rescue Detachment of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia are ready for any minute to resist people from another country and another continent.

In the Maldives, the consequences of the tsunami have more resembled traces from a breakthrough of sewage.
Vitya Lyakushkin, journalist.

Being in the Maldives, I traveled five islands underwing tsunami strikes. The trip was organized by the Maldivian a travel agency with the assistance of the Government of Maldives, which is strongly concerned that with their archipelago they did unfairly. The fact is that a permanent influx of tourists is required to restore the normal functioning of the region's economy. As a result, everything turned into a kind of propaganda war. Showed the shooting from Phuket, and said at the same time about the Maldives, although the "expelling" situation there is radically different. Reported from Sri Lanka, showed the coast of India, and in the comments added "... and Maldives".

A group of Russian journalists was collected in order to demonstrate the real state of affairs. Indeed, no special destruction in the Maldives was not. This is primarily due to the feature of the atoll device. The height of the trunk of the atoll is about two thousand meters. The trunk rises with the steep walls to the depths of two hundred meters, and above are the islands, which are circular formations, protruding the surface of the water to the maximum of the meter. The result - the tsunami wave height in the Maldives was extremely insignificant. She just had no place to rise!

How are the Maldives? These are 26 large atoll, on the tops of which are fifty-sixty islands. On the inner atolls from the epicenter, there was nothing at all. And on the "external" islands, the following happened: from the hotel rooms (they were flooded), tourists simply moved to the inner islands. The fact is that at this time there were a lot of holidaymakers in the Maldives. And due to the flooded numbers for some time, tourists were seellected for two families in the room. At Paradise (the outer island of an external atoll), there was a wave, which passed through the whole island, partially destroyed the bungalow and damaged home appliances. The wave caused a panic - the people put on life jackets, flippers and masks (Russians drank all the minibars under the sovers). Dead was not. Also during the day after the wave did not work cell phones and airport ( runway It turned out to be trally dirty). Dirt was washed away, and the flights resumed. Then restored mobile communications. Divers who were underwater during the waves, did not feel anything at all. The only thing they drew attention is the peak of computers that reacted to a sharp drop of depth.

Tsunami.

Tsunami is not one wave, but a series of moving ocean waves arising from geological disorders near the bottom of the ocean or under it. These waves cannot be stopped, and they rush across the ocean like a blow of a whip, while maintaining force for thousands of miles. Most tsunami is caused by strong earthquakes, but the cause can also be landslides, eruption of volcanoes and meteorites. Waves arise due to the fact that geological forces move water in the ocean pool. The stronger the earthquake, the greater the shifts of the earth's crust and the more water comes into motion.

Most often, the tsunami is formed in the Pacific Ocean. This is due to the fact that its pool is fought by the "fiery ring" - a long chain of seismically active points of the Earth.

At tsunami, the waves usually apply in directions opposed to seismic shocks. In the case of an earthquake at Sumatra, seismic waves moved along the ocean DNU south and north, and Tsunami - to the West and East.

Tsunami differs from the usual surf huge length and speed. One such wave can reach 185 km long and at the same time move along the ocean at a speed of about 1000 km / h. When it approaches the shore, its speed decreases sharply, and the height increases many times. Some tsunami resemble a tide in which water does not stop climbing and absorbs the coast.

A few hours after the earthquake, the tsunami loses power due to friction with the ocean bottom and simply due to the fact that the waves "dissolve" in the huge surface of the ocean.

International Tsunami Prevention System.

The International Tsunami Prevention System was established in 1965, after in 1964, the tsunami associated with an earthquake by force of 9.2 points caused a blow to Alaska. The system includes all major states of the Pacific coast in Northern and South America and Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, it includes France (under the sovereignty of which some islands are located) and Russia. The warning system analyzes information about earthquakes coming from several seismological centers (including the US Geological Service). The information in turn is transmitted to computer programs that simulate the formation of the tsunami. The system transmits tsunami warnings, including the forecast for the speed of the wave movement and the estimated time when they appear in certain geographic areas. As the tsunami waves move through tidal stations, the information is updated, and the tsunami warning is issued. Other programs create "flood cards", which turns on areas of destruction. But it is necessary to keep in mind that not all earthquakes cause tsunami. The center usually does not produce warnings related to earthquakes whose strength is less than seven points.