TSUNAMI

A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of
water, generally an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater
explosions (including detonations of underwater nuclear devices), landslides, glacier
calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to
generate a tsunami.
Tsunami waves do not resemble normal sea waves, because their wavelength is far longer.
Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly
rising tide, and for this reason they are often referred to as tidal waves. Tsunamis generally consist
of a series of waves with periods ranging from minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called "wave
train".Wave heights of tens of metres can be generated by large events. Although the impact of
tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous and they can affect
entire ocean basins; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in
human history with at least 290,000 people killed or missing in 14 countries bordering theIndian
Ocean.
The Greek historian Thucydides suggested in his late 5th century BC, History of the
Peloponnesian War, that tsunamis were related to submarine earthquakes, but the understanding
of a tsunami's nature remained slim until the 20th century and much remains unknown. Major
areas of current research include trying to determine why some large earthquakes do not generate
tsunamis while other smaller ones do; trying to accurately forecast the passage of tsunamis across
the oceans; and also to forecast how tsunami waves would interact with specific shorelines.
Tsunami and India
Tamil Nadu
The worst affected state in India was Tamil Nadu. About 7,793 people lost their lives. In the
Nagapattinam district 5,525 people died; in Kanyakumari there were 808 deaths; Cuddalore
district had a death toll of 599; the capital city of Chennai had 206 people dead while
Kancheepuram district saw the death of about 124 people. The number of deaths in other districts
of Tamil Nadu was Pudukkottai (15), Tirunelveli (4), Ramanathapuram (6), Tiruvallur (28),
Thoothukudi (3), Tiruvarur (10), Thanjavur (22), and Viluppuram (47).
In Kanyakumari, mostly the pilgrims died, who were taking a sacred dip in the sea. In Chennai,
those near the Marina beach were killed; at Velankanni in the district of Nagapattinam 1,500
people were washed away.
Pondicherry
In the Union territory of Pondicherry, about 30,000 people were rendered homeless. The districts
that were badly affected were Pondicherry (107 dead), and Karaikal (453 dead). In Pondicherry,
Kariakal saw the most devastating affects and maximum number of deaths. Mostly fishermen in
this region lost their lives and many were missing.
Andhra Pradesh
In the state of Andhra Pradesh, the districts that were affected were Prakasam (35 dead), West
Godavari (8 dead), Nellore (20 dead), Krishna (35 dead), Guntur (4 dead), and East Godavari (3
dead).
Kerala
In the state of Kerala, the districts that got affected were Alappuzha (32 dead), Kollam (131 dead),
Ernakulam (5 dead). About 187 villages and 24.70 lakh people were severely affected. About
6,280 dwelling units were damaged.