Famous tsunamis in the world. The biggest and most destructive tsunamis in the world and how to escape from a tsunami

Natural disasters occur on our planet quite often: fires, hurricane winds, abnormal rains, but when they talk about the occurrence of a tsunami, this danger is perceived as an apocalypse. And all because in the history of mankind there have already been tsunamis with colossal destruction and loss of life.

Before moving on to an overview of the most destructive tsunamis in the history of mankind, we will briefly talk about: why tsunamis occur, what are the signs and the rules of conduct during this natural disaster.

So, tsunamis are huge in height and wavelength, which are formed as a result of impact on the bottom of the ocean or sea. The largest and most destructive tsunamis are formed when there is a strong impact on the bottom, for example, during an earthquake whose epicenter is close enough to the coast with a magnitude on the Richter scale of 6.5 points.

How to recognize the appearance of a tsunami?

• - an earthquake with a magnitude of more than 6.5 in the waters of the sea or ocean. On land, tremors can be felt weakly. The stronger the shocks are felt, the closer the epicenter and the greater the likelihood of a tsunami. Indeed, in 80% of cases, a tsunami is formed due to underwater earthquakes;
• - an unexpected tide. When, for no apparent reason, the coastline goes far into the sea and the coastal bottom is exposed. The farther the water has moved from the shore, the stronger the wave will be;
• - The unusual behavior of animals. For example, they begin to hide in dwellings, worry, whine, gather in groups, which was not typical for them before.

How to survive during a tsunami?

Rules of conduct during a tsunami.

If you are in a seismically dangerous region and on the coast of the Pacific or Indian Ocean, then at the first shocks and the departure of water from the coastline, you must immediately go as far as possible inland, at least 3-4 km from the coastline. It is advisable to climb some hill with a height of more than 30 meters: a hill or some large and strong concrete structure, for example, a 9-storey building.

Since 2004, several countries have developed a tsunami warning system. As soon as an earthquake occurs near the coast, special services, based on the strength of the earthquake and the distance from the coast, calculate how strong and destructive the tsunami has. Immediately, a decision is made to evacuate the population from dangerous areas.

When receiving a message about an impending tsunami, you should take with you documents, drinking water, money and go to the safe zone. You should not take extra things, as they can fetter or cause inconvenience.

It is important to know that tsunamis are most often not one wave, but a series of waves. Therefore, after the first or second wave collapses, in no case should you leave the flooded area. After all, the most destructive may not be the first and second wave. According to statistics, people quite often die or go missing when they try to leave the flooded area, and suddenly the water begins to rapidly decrease back into the ocean, taking cars, people, trees with it. It is important to remember that the period between tsunami waves can range from 2 minutes to several hours.

If you suddenly realize that water is and is and you cannot hide on your hill, then you should find a suitable object in the water that could serve as a means of navigation. You also need to figure out where you will swim before jumping into the water. You should also get rid of shoes and wet clothes so that nothing interferes and does not hinder movement.

Saving another person is worth it when you are sure that you can handle it. A drowning person should be prompted if you see an object nearby that can serve as a swimming aid, if you decide to help yourself, then you should swim up behind and grab your hair and pull your head above the water so that the drowning person can breathe and the panic goes away. If you see a person who is carried away by a stream of water, then you should first throw a rope, a stick, any other object with which you can catch and pull the person out of the stream. There is no point in throwing yourself over the course, since most likely you will also be carried away into the ocean.

You should leave your shelter only when the local authorities somehow notify about it, for example, a helicopter will fly with a horn or by radio. Or when you see the rescuers, ask them if there will be more waves and only after that you should leave your shelter.

The world's largest tsunami and its consequences

Now let's give a few statistics, which tsunamis were the strongest in the history of mankind.

In Chile in 1960 there was a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 9.5 points, the wave height reached 25 meters, 1263 people died. This natural disaster entered the history of catastrophes as the "Great Chilean Earthquake".

In December 2004, one of the strongest earthquakes with a magnitude of 9 points occurred in the Indian Ocean. it powerful earthquake caused waves of monstrous force. The wave height reached almost 51 meters off the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

In terms of the number of victims, this was the largest and most destructive tsunami. As a result of this natural disaster, mainly Asian countries were affected: Indonesia, especially the island of Sumatra, Sri Lanka, the coast of Thailand, southern India, the island of Somalia and other countries. Total number the largest number of dead - 227,898 people. This is only official data, some scientists believe that there were more than 300,000 victims, since a large number of people were missing, they could have been carried into the ocean. The main reason for such a large number of victims was that people in these countries were not warned about the threat. In the same way, people died due to the fact that after the first wave they returned to their homes, believing that everything was behind them. However, soon the next wave arrived from the ocean and covered the coast.

In Japan in 2014, the "Great East Japan Earthquake" occurred, with a magnitude of 9 points, the wave height reached 40.5 meters. It was the largest tsunami in terms of destruction, as 62 cities and villages were affected. The height and strength of the destruction of these waves surpassed all scientific calculations of scientists.

The next tsunami, which occurred in the Philippines, also claimed a large number of lives - 4,456 people died, the magnitude of the earthquake was 8.1, and the wave height was 8.5 meters.

Then comes the 1998 tsunami Papua New Guinea, 2,183 people died. The earthquake was 7 points, and the waves reached 15 meters.

The tsunami with the largest waves occurred in Alaska in 1958 during a landslide. More than 1,000 meters fell into the waters of Lutuya Bay great amount terrestrial rocks and ice, this caused a tsunami, the height of which near the coast reached more than 500 meters! It is the Alaskan wave that is called the world's largest tsunami.

Watch a movie about the ten most destructive tsunamis in human history below.

The world was stunned by the deadly tsunami that hit the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. The tsunami was the deadliest ever, with over 230,000 casualties, affecting people in 14 countries, the largest number victims in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

The strong underwater earthquake had a magnitude of up to 9.3, and the deadly waves it caused were up to 30 meters high. Massive tsunamis flooded some coastlines as early as 15 minutes, and some as much as 7 hours after the initial quake. Despite having time to prepare for wave impacts in some places, the lack of a tsunami warning system in Indian Ocean led to the fact that most of the coastal zones were taken by surprise. However, some places were saved thanks to local signs and even the knowledge of children who learned about the tsunami at school.

The consequences of the tsunami in Sumatra. 2004

People all over the world saw on TV terrible pictures of destruction that were hard to believe. Unfortunately, the tsunami in Sumatra was a reality.

"This place reminds me of something from biblical history disasters, or sketches by Hieronymus Bosch. Wherever I go, I must be careful not to step on a corpse." These are the words of eyewitness Chris Rainer, photographer and volunteer for the International Medical Corps. He got to Sumatra 2 weeks after the earthquake and tsunami.

Many buildings were simply washed away. This means that thousands of people were simply blown away along with their houses. open waters where they died. “To give you what I saw, I will say this: it looked like Hiroshima after the atomic bomb,” Reiner says.

The tsunami in Sumatra is considered the most destructive tsunami in history. About 230,000-280,000 people died, millions became refugees. The highest death toll was in Indonesia, which was hit by a dual disaster of both an earthquake and tidal waves.

Eyewitnesses of this terrible event compare the noise accompanying the tsunami with the noise emanating from three moving freight trains at the same time.

The disaster claimed more than 170,000 lives in Aceh, and left half a million more people homeless. Entire communities were washed off the face of the earth.

Earthquakes reached 9.1 on the Richter scale. After all these horrors ended, the survivors faced a number of new problems: they had no housing, no basic necessities, no fresh water, food and medicine. All of these factors have increased the likelihood of epidemics spreading.

Luckily, humanitarian aid received as soon as possible. States, United Organizations, individuals, who did not stand aside, reacted instantly. The United States, Australia, India and Japan have formed a coalition to help the victims as quickly as possible. This responsibility later passed into the hands of the United Nations.

Alaska earthquake and subsequent tsunami, 1964

March 27, 1964 was Good Friday, but the Christian worship day was interrupted by a 9.2 magnitude earthquake - the strongest ever recorded in North American history. The subsequent tsunami devastated the western North American coastline (also hitting Hawaii and Japan), killing 121 people. Waves up to 30 meters high were recorded, and a 10-meter tsunami wiped out the tiny Alaskan village of Chenega.

9. Samoa earthquake and tsunami, 2009.

In 2009 the Samoan Islands experienced a magnitude 8.1 earthquake at 7:00 am on September 29th. Tsunamis up to 15 meters high followed, reaching miles inland, engulfing villages and causing widespread destruction. 189 people died, many of them children, but no further deaths were avoided due to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center giving people time to evacuate to higher ground.

8. 1993 Hokkaido earthquake and tsunami.

On July 12th, 1993, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck 80 miles off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan. The Japanese authorities reacted quickly by issuing a tsunami warning, but the small island of Okushiri was out of the relief zone. Already minutes after the earthquake, the island was covered with giant waves - some of which reached 30 meters in height. Of the 250 tsunami victims, 197 were residents of Okushiri. Although some were saved thanks to the memory of the 1983 tsunami that hit the island 10 years earlier, prompting a quick evacuation.

7. 1979 Tumaco earthquake and tsunami.

At 8:00 am on December 12th, 1979, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake began near Colombia and the Pacific coast of Ecuador. The tsunami that followed destroyed six fishing villages and much of the city of Tumaco, as well as several other Colombian coastal cities. 259 people died while 798 were injured and 95 were missing.

6. 2006 earthquake and tsunami in Java.

On July 17th, 2006, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the seabed near Java. A 7m high tsunami hit the Indonesian coastline, including 100 miles of Java's coastline, which was fortunately unaffected by the 2004 tsunami. The waves penetrated over a mile inland, leveling the settlements and the seaside resort of Pangandaran. At least 668 people have died, 65 have been burned out, and more than 9,000 have required medical attention.

5. 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake and tsunami.

An earthquake of magnitude 7 hit the northern coast of Papua New Guinea on July 17, 1998, without itself causing a major tsunami. However, the earthquake triggered a large underwater landslide, which in turn produced waves 15 meters high. When the tsunami hit the coast, it caused at least 2,183 fatalities, 500 missing, and made about 10,000 residents homeless. Numerous villages were badly damaged, while others such as Arop and Warapu were completely destroyed. The only positive was that it gave scientists valuable insight into the threat of underwater landslides and unexpected tsunamis they could cause, which could save lives in the future.

4. 1976 Moro Bay earthquake and tsunami.

In the early morning, August 16th, 1976, the small island of Mindanao in the Philippines was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7.9. The earthquake caused a huge tsunami that crashed into 433 miles of coastline, where residents did not realize the danger and did not have time to escape to higher ground. In all, 5,000 people died and another 2,200 went missing, 9,500 were injured and more than 90,000 residents were left homeless. Cities and regions throughout the Northern Celebes Sea region of the Philippines were devastated by the tsunami, which is considered among the worst natural disasters in the country's history.

3. 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami.

In 1960 the world experienced the most strong earthquake from the start of tracking such events. On May 22nd, the Great Chile Earthquake of 9.5 began off the south coast of central Chile, causing a volcanic eruption and a devastating tsunami. In some areas, waves were up to 25 meters high, while the tsunami also swept across the Pacific Ocean, hitting Hawaii about 15 hours after the quake and killing 61 people. Seven hours later, waves hit the coast of Japan, causing 142 deaths. A total of 6,000 died.

2. 2011 Tohuku earthquake and tsunami.

While all tsunamis are dangerous, the 2011 Tohuku Tsunami that hit Japan has some of the worst consequences. On March 11th waves of 11 meters were recorded after the 9.0 earthquake, although some reports mention terrifying heights of up to 40 meters with waves traveling 6 miles inland, as well as a whopping 30 meter wave that crashed into the coastal town of Ofunato. Approximately 125,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, and transport infrastructure suffered heavy losses. Approximately 25,000 people died, the tsunami also damaged the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, causing a disaster of International Nuclear Scale. The full implications of this nuclear disaster are still unclear, but radiation has been detected 200 miles from the station.

Here are some videos that capture the destructive power of the elements:

Tsunamis produced by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are considered the most dangerous natural phenomena on the ground. In the past two decades alone, giant waves and tremors have combined to kill 55% of the 1.35 million people who have died from natural disasters. Throughout its history, mankind has experienced many such disasters, but in this article we bring to your attention the ten most destructive and deadly tsunamis ever recorded on our planet.

1. Sumatra (Indonesia), December 24, 2004

At the end of December 2004, off the coast of Sumatra, at a depth of about 30 km, there was a powerful earthquake of magnitude 9.1, caused by a vertical displacement of the seabed. As a result of the seismic event, a large wave with a width of about 1300 km was formed, which, as it approached the coast, reached a height of 15 meters. A giant wall of water hit the shores of Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and several other states, leaving between 225,000 and 300,000 dead. Many people were swept into the ocean, so the exact numbers of deaths are unlikely to ever be known. According to general estimates, the damage from the disaster amounted to about 10 billion US dollars.

2. Pacific Northwest (Japan), March 11, 2011

On March 11, 2011, a huge 10-meter wave moving at a speed of 800 km/h swept over the east coast of Japan and led to the death or disappearance of over 18,000 people. The reason for its appearance was an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, which occurred at a depth of 32 km east of the island of Honshu. Some 452,000 Japanese survivors were moved to temporary shelters. Many live in them to this day. The earthquake and tsunami caused an accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, after which significant radioactive releases occurred. The total damage amounted to $235 billion.

3. Lisbon (Portugal), November 1, 1755

An earthquake of magnitude 8.5 in the Atlantic caused a series of three huge waves that covered the Portuguese capital and a number of coastal cities in Portugal, Spain and Morocco. In some places, the height of the tsunami reached 30 meters. The waves have crossed Atlantic Ocean and reached Barbados, where their height was 1.5 meters. Overall, the tremor and subsequent tsunami killed about 60,000 people.

4. Krakatau (Indonesia), August 27, 1883

The volcanic eruption in 1883 was one of the largest in modern history humanity. The explosions of the giant were so powerful that they caused high waves that flooded the surrounding islands. After the volcano split and collapsed into the ocean, the largest tsunami 36 meters high was formed, destroying over 160 villages on the islands of Sumatra and Java. Of the more than 36,000 who died during the eruption, over 90% of the people were victims of the tsunami.

5. Nankaido (Japan), September 20, 1498

According to general estimates, the earthquake that shook the islands in the southeast of Japan had a magnitude of at least 8.4. A seismic event led to a tsunami that hit the Japanese provinces of Kii, Awaji and the coast of the island of Shikoku. The waves were strong enough to demolish the isthmus that previously separated Lake Hamana from the ocean. Flooding was observed throughout the historical region of Nankaido, and the death toll reached, presumably, from 26,000 to 31,000 people.

6. Nankaido (Japan), October 28, 1707

Another devastating tsunami, caused by an earthquake of magnitude 8.4, hit Japan's Nankaido in 1707. The wave height was 25 meters. The settlements on the coast of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu were damaged, and the large Japanese city of Osaka was also damaged. The disaster resulted in the destruction of over 30,000 homes and the death of about 30,000 people. It is estimated that about a dozen tsunamis hit Japan that day in just 1 hour, some of them traveled several kilometers inland.

7. Sanriku (Japan), June 15, 1896

The tsunami in the northeastern part of the island of Honshu was caused by an earthquake of magnitude 7.2, caused by a shift in the lithospheric plates in the area of ​​the Japan Trench. After the earthquake, the Sanriku region was hit by two waves one after the other, rising to a height of up to 38 meters. Since the arrival of the water coincided with the tide, the damage from the disaster was incredibly high. More than 22,00 people died and over 9,000 buildings were destroyed. The tsunami also reached the Hawaiian Islands, but here their height was much less - about 9 meters.

8. Northern Chile, August 13, 1868

The tsunami in northern Chile (at that time off the coast of Arica in Peru) was caused by a series of two large-scale earthquakes of magnitude 8.5. Waves up to 21 meters high flooded the entire Asia-Pacific region and reached the Australian Sydney. The waters crashed onto the banks for 2 or 3 days, eventually resulting in 25,000 deaths and $300 million worth of damage.

9. Ryukyu (Japan), April 24, 1771

Boulders thrown by the tsunami

An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 caused a tsunami that flooded many Japanese islands. Ishigaki and Miyako suffered the most, where the wave height reached 11 to 15 meters. The disaster resulted in the destruction of 3,137 houses and the death of about 12,000 people.

10. Ise Bay (Japan), January 18, 1586

Ise Bay today

The earthquake that caused the tsunami in Ise Bay on the island of Honshu received a magnitude of 8.2. Waves rose to a height of 6 meters, causing damage to settlements on the coast. The city of Nagahama suffered not only from water, but also from fires that broke out after the earthquake and destroyed half of the buildings. The tsunami in the bay killed more than 8,000 people.

Tsunamis are one of the most devastating natural disasters. Most often, earthquakes are the cause, because of them giant waves are formed that fall on the shore with millions of cubic meters of water. Such power can take the lives of thousands of people and cause colossal destruction. We at TravelAsk decided to tell you about the most terrible tsunami that humanity has witnessed.

Tsunami after the eruption of Krakatoa, 1883

Victims: 36.5 thousand people

Krakatoa is one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet. So, in 535, the volcanic eruption led to climatic changes on Earth, and the eruption of 1883 destroyed almost the entire island on which it was located. It was from its explosion that a powerful wave was formed, which swept along the entire coast of the Indian Ocean, demolishing fishing villages in its path. Then almost everyone who lived within a radius of 500 kilometers perished. Moreover, even people who were on the opposite bank - in South Africa - became victims.

Megatsunami in Lituya Bay, 1958

Victims: 5 people

In the southeast of Alaska, in Lituya Bay, a natural disaster occurred in 1958. First, an earthquake of magnitude 8.3 was recorded in this region, because of it a huge landslide of stones and ice descended from two glaciers with a total volume of more than 300 million cubic meters. All this provoked a giant wave with a height of more than 500 meters! The tsunami washed away the entire slope of the bay, destroyed the spit that separated Lituya from the neighboring bay. It was the highest wave recorded in the history of mankind, for comparison, the Eiffel Tower is almost two times smaller: 300 meters. Fortunately, the shores of the bay were not inhabited, so the number of victims was minimal.

Tsunami in the Philippines, 1976

Victims: 7.5 thousand people

In 1976, an earthquake occurred in the Philippines, which caused a seemingly small tsunami with a wave height of 4.5 meters. But since the coast was low, the waves swept away everything in their path for 400 miles. Of course, people did not expect such a threat, so more than 5 thousand people died and about 2.5 thousand people went missing. And the number of victims is generally estimated in tens of thousands: many settlements were simply washed away, about a hundred thousand residents were left homeless.

Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, 2004

Victims: 655 thousand people

Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and other countries of the Indian coast will remember December 26, 2004 for centuries. An underwater earthquake triggered a tsunami with a wave height of up to 30 meters, they hit the shore in just a few minutes. The tsunami, according to official data, then claimed the lives of 280 thousand people, and according to unofficial data - 655 thousand people. The reasons for such a number of victims are that the coastal area is very densely populated, and there were a lot of tourists on the beaches. But most importantly, if these regions had established modern system tsunami alerts, then people would be aware of the threat.

Earthquake in Japan, 2011

Victims: 25 thousand people

40-meter waves covered approximately 560 square kilometers of Japan on March 11, 2011 after an earthquake of magnitude 9.0. Disaster called the Great East Japan Earthquake. The disaster affected 62 settlements, about 380 thousand buildings were destroyed, and more than 25 thousand people died. But the main consequence of the tsunami is the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. The radiation threat of a damaged reactor is global, emissions into the ocean and atmosphere have occurred radioactive substances. Elimination of the accident and its consequences will take approximately 40 years.

Tsunami is one of the most terrible manifestations of the wrath of nature. It is generated by an earthquake, after which a huge wave of water tends to land and, as a rule, not one. Thanks to our territorial distribution, the threat of being washed into the ocean does not threaten us, because even if underground vibrations occur somewhere, only their echoes reach us. The islands become the first on the path of huge waves and sometimes the carelessness of people, as well as ignorance of banal safety rules, becomes the cause of their death. After all, it has repeatedly happened that people returned to their homes from shelters immediately after the first wave, although there are always two or more of them. We have collected the top 10 the biggest tsunami waves in the world and combined them into one list.

10. Opening our list is an unpleasant incident in Japan that happened in 2004. Two earthquakes of 6.7 and 7.2 points created a big waves, but due to the distance of 120 kilometers, only meter-long consequences of oscillations reached the shore. What happened did not cause deaths, because the coastal residents were almost not injured, escaping with more fright.

9. Let the pictures taken by the inhabitants of the Solomon Islands are not a photo of the largest tsunami, but this did not in the least prevent waves of two meters in size from cleaning up four large settlements at once in 2007. According to official figures, the cataclysm claimed the lives of at least 52 people.

8. A magnitude of 8.8 led to significant ground faults in Chile, and also caused a tsunami. Three-meter water flows destroyed the city of Compension, and also caused the death of about a hundred people.

7. The underwater relief near the island of Papua New Guinea has become fatal for its inhabitants. Powerful fluctuations with a magnitude of 7.1 did not easily give rise to waves, because of them there was a huge landslide, which, having descended, caused a large tsunami. Subsequently, it killed more than 2 thousand people.

6. It happened a long time ago, but the inhabitants of the frosty region will remember forever. In 1957, an earthquake hit the islands near Alaska. All set readings indicated a magnitude of 9.1, one of the largest on record. The waves rose up to 14 meters in height, and only due to the fact that the cold land is sparsely populated, the number of victims was only three hundred people.

5. Five years before the incident in Alaska, something almost similar happened near Kamchatka, but it was still big on its scale. The height of the tsunami was 18 meters, which destroyed the city of Severo-Kurilsk, completely turning it into solid ruins. At the moment of its rage, the cataclysm took away two thousand lives.

4. One of the few cases when it was possible to find out about the cataclysm in advance and save everyone who could suffer. Where was the largest tsunami in the world that never managed to reach its goal - on the islands of Izu and Miyake. The magnitude of only 6.8 gave rise to an average wave of about 40 meters, but the benefit of the authorities managed to quickly evacuate local residents.

3. Lituya Bay, due to the underground vibrations of 1958, visually completely changed. They caused the dumping of a huge part of the mountain slope, which went underwater, and this, in turn, caused the emergence of a water giant measuring 52 meters in height, which met with land at a speed of 150 km / h, radically changing it.

2. Another incident in Alaska happened back in 1964, however, this time in the Prince William Sound. Powerful fluctuations caused a record 67-meter wave, which killed about one and a half hundred civilians.

1. What is the largest tsunami in the world? What happened off the coast of Southeast Asia back in 2004. Its power and ruthlessness were not easily horrified, incredible masses of water took the lives of at least 235 thousand people. There were victims in Somalia, and in Sri Lanka, and in India, and even Thailand.