THESIS: The tsunami is a dangerous natural disaster that should be analyzed and studied to prevent unnecessary deaths.
What is a Tsunami?
A. Definition
B. Historical background
C. What effects do they cause
What causes Tsunami?
D. Why do tsunami occur?
E. Where do they occur?
F. How often do they occur
What damage do they cause?
G. The financial cost
H. The environmental cost
I. The human cost
Analyzing and researching
J. Detecting a tsunami
K. Planning
L. Learning from the past
V. CONCLUSION
Tsunami: Analyzing the tsunami to prevent future tragedy
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines tsunami as "a seismic sea wave or tidal wave that is caused by an earthquake that occurs less than 30 miles beneath the seafloor and has a magnitude greater than 6.5 on the Richter scale". ("Tsunami" Encyclopedia Britannica 1986 ed) These giant waves are generated when a large earthquake at sea causes the sea floor to shift and displace the large body of water above it. The effects are waves that travel outward toward distant shores at very high speeds. Once these waves come to shore they can destroy entire villages or town with one or more of these giant waves. There have been many examples of the power and destruction the tsunami have caused in the past. Some examples of these are the 1960 tsunami in Hilo, Hawaii, the 1993 tsunami in Papua, New Guinea, and the 2004 Indonesia tsunami. In the 1960 tsunami in Hilo, Hawaii, an earthquake in Chile caused a wave that hit the shore and killed 159 people and caused major damage to the coastal town. In 1998 another earthquake caused a group of waves to hit Papua, New Guinea. The tsunami destroyed homes and killed about 2200 of its people. The worst and most destructive of these Tsunami was the December 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia. This was a result of an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean near the Island of Sumatra. The Tsunami caused
Bibliography: Elegant, Simon and Aceh Banda "Tsunami" Time Magazine January 10, 2005: 30-39