Tsunami is a terrible and catastrophic natural phenomenon that can destroy everything in its path. Tsunami - a wave that occurs as a result of seismic activity and "shaking" of water in the ocean. The main reason is underwater earthquakes. As a result of approaching the water to the shore, the waves grow and reach a height of several tens of meters and represent a rushing millions of tons of water. The largest tsunami in history brought the death of hundreds of thousands of people and enormous destruction. This article has collected the 10 most terrible tsunamis in history, arranging them in chronological order.
Mediterranean (year 365)
The tsunami that has arisen in the Mediterranean remains a mystery to modern mankind, because there are no exact scientific data or documents for that period, therefore it is impossible to estimate the scale of the disaster and the number of victims. At the moment, researchers suggest that as a result of this natural phenomenon, about 50 thousand people died.To restore the economy, the Roman emperor Valentinian I raised taxes, and archaeologists find ruined cities, the dates of the destruction of which coincide.
The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who told us that even the ships were on the roofs of houses, and the waves “passed” more than 3 kilometers over land, told us about this event best of all. Experts believe that such tsunamis occur every 5 thousand years and the following such incident can lead to terrible consequences.
Krakatau (1883)
The cause of the tsunami is the eruption of the volcano Kratakau, which is located in Indonesia. As a result of seismic activity, a huge wave arose that destroyed the coast of the Indian Ocean and all that was there. Residents of coastal settlements had no chance of escape, and victims were found even on the opposite ocean shore in South Africa. As a result of this tsunami killed more than 35 thousand people.
Strait of Messina (1908)
Another earthquake caused a terrible tsunami, which was one of the largest in the history of mankind. The Strait of Messina between the Alenninsky Peninsula and Sicily became the site of a tsunami series. What resulted from the displacement of the bottom sections. In just one hour, three waves came to the coasts of these two sides, the height of which reached 12 meters. The victims - thousands of people who tried to hide from an earthquake, but did not expect a tsunami. In total, the death toll is more than 120 thousand people. 4 Russian warships came to the rescue of the locals, and a monument to them was erected 100 years later.
Kuril Islands (1952)
Another terrible tsunami, which was the result of an earthquake. As a result, waves of water destroyed the city and several small settlements. People did not even guess about the tsunami and returned home after the earthquake, but died under a 20-meter multi-ton water shaft. Nobody knew that a tsunami is a series of waves, therefore people, who had hidden from the first wave, came out of the shelters, and the next wave covered them. As a result, 2.5 thousand people died, and the world learned about this incident only a few decades later, because the USSR did not report the tragedy.
Bay of Lituia (1958)
As a result of the strongest earthquake, a landslide collapsed, the volume of which exceeded 300 million cubic meters of ice and stones. To this, the water of the lakes and the collapsed shore were added, as a result of which a wave arose, the height of which was not the usual tens of meters, but 524 meters. She swept across the bay and, as if with a tongue, licked everything that had happened, destroying the braid. Fortunately, there was no population there, so the number of victims was 5 fishermen.
Chile (1960)
The largest earthquake in history, with a score of 9.5 points, provoked not only a volcanic eruption, but also the formation of a tsunami, whose waves reached a height of 25 meters. As a result of the disaster, 6 thousand people became victims. In this case, the wave was so strong that it easily passed through the entire ocean, reaching Japan and killing 61 people in Hawaii.
Philippines (1976)
Another tsunami whose wave height was only 4.5 meters. At the same time, it became a real catastrophe, after all, about 400 miles passed across the entire coast, killing 5 thousand people on its way. Another 3,000 people disappeared, and almost a hundred thousand people were left without shelter.
Papua New Guinea (1998)
As a result of the terrible earthquake on July 17, a huge underwater landslide created a 15-meter wave. The poor country experienced several waves, as a result of which more than 2.5 thousand people died. Tens of thousands of people were left without shelter and money for living. After this tragedy, active study of underwater landslides and their influence on the occurrence of a tsunami began.
Indian Ocean (2004)
December 26, 2004 is a date that is written in blood for Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries of the Indian Ocean. It was on this day that the deadly tsunami passed across the entire coast of the ocean, taking with it 280 thousand people according to official data and about 700 thousand according to unofficial sources.As a result of an underwater earthquake, 30-meter waves appeared, which destroyed the shores of several countries for 15 minutes. The reason for such a large number of victims is tourists, the dense population of the coast and its low location relative to sea level.
Japan (2011)
A terrible earthquake, whose score was 9 points, was the cause of a tsunami, whose wave height exceeded 40 meters. The whole world looked with horror at how multi-ton waves of water destroyed sea-going ships, cars and coastal buildings. Water streams that went one after another did not notice anything around, destroying the coastal zone and standing buildings, like card houses. Element took over 25 thousand people, but the most terrible thing was that the rector of the Fukushima nuclear power plant was damaged, as a result of which radiation broke free and became a global threat. The consequences of this incident remain to this day.
