To truly understand if a tsunami will occur, one must first understand what a tsunami is and how exactly it is occurs. A tidal wave is not a tsunami. That must be understood from the beginning if one is to understand what causes a tsunami. A tidal wave is an incredibly tall wave that is only a couple of meters wide. They could be about one hundred feet tall. This differs from a tsunami because a tsunami could only be twenty feet tall, but miles long.
A tsunami occurs when there is a rapid change to the water, such as an earthquake, meteorite impact, land slide or a volcanic eruption. With the displacement of so much water, it needs to go somewhere. When you throw a rock into a pond, you see a ripple effect. The same thing occurs when there is a change in the water. It has to go somewhere and it goes out from the focal point in all directions. A tsunami, unlike a tidal wave, can have many waves, the wavelengths being meters apart or kilometers and even hundreds of kilometers. That goes to show that the waves can continue to come often.
On May 27, 2006, there was another earthquake in Indonesia. This earthquake could very well cause a tsunami in the future. When it will come is unknown; however it can come at any time. The earthquake does not even have to occur near the country that it is hitting. It could occur hundreds and hundreds of miles away from the country and yet a tsunami could still slam into the shoreline and cause extreme havoc, mayhem and carnage that no one wants to see.
The tsunami that occurred on December 24, 2004 caused the deaths of 186,983 people and that does not include the 42,883 that are missing. Bodies are still popping up on the beaches of these countries affected by this tsunami almost two years ago and it shows just the might that these earth created disasters can have on people. Can they happen again? Yes. They can happen again and they will happen again. The key to success is knowing when they are coming so that you can prepare for it and leave the area so that another quarter million people do not die and are not affected.
