00:00:05suddenly the time goes into reverse a
00:00:10thunderous roar fills their and then
00:00:16it strikes
00:00:21and when it is over nothing is what a
00:00:27tsunami the word in Japanese means
00:00:32harbour wave Japan has been hit by many
00:00:36tsunamis in its history as a result of
00:00:39its location it lies across the edges of
00:00:42four tectonic plates where most
00:00:44earthquakes the principal cause of
00:00:46tsunamis are war when two tectonic
00:00:49plates push together the resulting
00:00:52earthquake sends an enormous burst of
00:00:55energy up through the ocean displacing
00:00:58enormous quantities of water a series of
00:01:02waves expands in all directions in deep
00:01:06water these waves travel fast up to five
00:01:09hundred miles an hour but only reach a
00:01:11height of a few feet a passing ship
00:01:14might not even notice but as the waves
00:01:17enter shallow waters friction with the
00:01:20ocean floor lowers the wave speed and
00:01:23raises their height until at landfall
00:01:26they can engulf a 10-story building
00:01:33unlike ordinary waves a tsunami wave
00:01:36doesn’t crest and break instead it
00:01:39advances like a wall of water that
00:01:42crashes over the coastline and
00:01:44everything in its way reaching even as
00:01:47far as a mind
00:01:48inland more damage is caused when the
00:01:52wave recedes dragging everything in it
00:01:54back under water and most tsunamis have
00:01:58multiple waves each arriving anywhere
00:02:01from 10 to 60 minutes after the first
00:02:04strike just when survivors think the
00:02:07danger is over the deadliest tsunami
00:02:10ever recorded occurred in December of
00:02:132004 an earthquake off the coast of
00:02:17Indonesia triggered a tsunami that
00:02:20surged across the Indian Ocean and
00:02:22reached as far as the coast of Africa
00:02:25whole sections of cities were destroyed
00:02:30more than 200,000 people died
00:02:37most had no way of being warned
00:02:475,000 miles away the Pacific Tsunami
00:02:50Warning Center in Honolulu is on call 24
00:02:54hours a day to prevent a similar tragedy
00:02:56from happening in the United States
00:03:00scientists monitor tremors and quakes
00:03:02from around the globe if a quake big
00:03:06enough to cause a tsunami occurs it is
00:03:09their job to alert the coastlines in the
00:03:12tsunamis path the advice is simple move
00:03:16to higher ground wait for news that the
00:03:19tsunami has passed and be ready to deal
00:03:22with the ruins left in its wake
”