Short Paragraph on Tsunami in India
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that cause the sea floor to move abruptly resulting in sudden displacement of ocean water in the form of high vertical wave are called Tsunamis. Tsunami is derived from two Latin words ‘tsu’ which means harbour and ‘nami’ means ‘wave’. The speed of the wave in the oceans depends upon the depth of water.
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It is more in the shallow water than in the ocean deep. As a result of this, the impact of tsunamis is less over the ocean and more near the coast where they cause large-scale devastations. Thus these are also called “Shallow Water Waves”. Tsunamis are frequently observed along the pacific ring of fire. Particularly along the coast of Alaska, Japan, Philippines, and other islands of South east Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and India.
After reaching the coast, the tsunami wave release enormous energy stored in them and water flows turbulently onto the land, destroying port-cities and towns, structures, buildings and other settlements. Since the coastal areas are densely populated the world over, and these are also centers of intense human activity, the loss of life and property is likely to be much higher by a tsunami as compared to other natural hazards in the coastal area.
Major Tsunamis in India
DateLocationImpact
1524 ADNear Dabhol, MaharashtraSufficient data not available
02 April 1762Arakan Coast, MyanmarSufficient data not available
16 June 1819Rann of Kachchh, GujaratSufficient data not available
31 October 1847Great Nicobar IslandSufficient data not available
31 December 1881An earthquake of 7.9 in the Richter scale in Nicobar IslandEntire east coast of India and Andaman and Nicobar Islands; 1m tsunamis were recorede at Chennai
26 August 1883Explosion of Krakatoa volcano in IndonesiaEast coast of India was affected; 2m tsunamis were recorded at Chennai
26 June 1941At 8
1 Richter scale earthquake in the Andaman archipelagoEast coast of India was affected but no estimates of height of tsunami is avaliable
27 November 1945An 8.5 Richter scale earthquake at a distance of about 100km south of KarachiWest coast of India north to Karwar was affected; 12m tsunami was felt at Kandia
26 December 2004Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Kenya, TanzaniaThe East coast of India was affected. The weaves measured around 10m high killing more than 10, 000 precious lives.
