Tsunami: the death wave

A tsunami is one of the world's most powerful and destructive natural forces. Tsunami are giant waves caused by earthquake or volcanic eruptions under the sea. It can be many miles long, from 1 to 100 feet high, travelling at 400 miles per hour. They can speed across the ocean as fast as jet plane, speed up islands wipe out villages. A tsunami is a series of ocean waves caused by any large and sudden disturbances of the sea surface. Tsunamis can be generated by landslides, volcanic eruptions, or even meteorite impacts in the ocean. But they are most often caused by an earthquake where there's a sudden displacement of the ocean floor. 

What causes a Tsunami ?

These awe-inspiring waves typically caused by large, undersea earthquakes at tectonic plate boundaries. When the ocean floor at a plate boundary rises or falls suddenly, it  displaces the water above it and lunches the rolling waves that will become a tsunami. Most tsunamis-about 80 percent-happen within the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire", a geologically active area where tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common. More than 1,500 people died in Rikuzentakata, one of several towns eradicated by a tsunami that hit Japan.Tsunamis may also be caused by underwater landslides or volcanic eruptions. They may even be launched, as they frequently were in Earth's ancient past, by the impact of a large meteorite plunging into an ocean.