Essay on Asian Tsunami: Series of Waves Created

Submitted By rainboy7
Words: 398
Pages: 2

Asian Tsunami

A tsunami is a series of waves created when lots of water, like an ocean, is very quickly displaced it can cause lots of destruction. The tsunami on 26 December 2004 was created by an earthquake which was under the Indian Ocean. It was a subduction earthquake which means one tectonic plate slides under another tectonic plate and when they rub together it creates an earthquake. Its epicentre was off the coast of Thailand and Indonesia. It was the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. (A seismograph measure the seismic waves from an earthquake)

Diagram showing how a subduction earthquake happens and creates a tsunami The tsunami affected lots of countries including Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives islands, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma and Somalia which is on the coast of Africa. It also triggered other earthquakes all the way in Alaska, the earthquake made the whole world vibrate by 1cm!

This picture shows countries affected and where the earthquake was The tsunami killed more than 225,000 people and destroyed many villages. The tsunami affected everyone who lived on the coasts of the countries that were affected especially poor people. It affected the Sri Lankan and Indonesian people most because there has been a huge drop in sea level and therefore it has affected the fishermen because the fish are smaller now. People on holiday there and tourists were affected aswell, it also will take many years to rebuild all