Tsunami!
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Book Overview
On April 1, 1946, shortly after sunrise, the town of Hilo on the island of Hawai'i was devastated by a series of giant waves. Traveling 2,300 miles from the Aleutian Islands in less than five hours, the waves struck without warning and claimed 159 lives. Fourteen years later, on May 22, 1960, a massive earthquake occurred off of the coast of Chile. The earthquake generated giant waves that sped across the Pacific at 442 miles per hour, reaching Hilo in just fifteen hours. The first wave to hit the town was a modest four feet higher than normal, the second nine feet. Before the third wave could arrive, a tidal phenomenon known as a bore smashed into the Hilo bayfront, with thirty-five foot waves that wrenched buildings off their foundations. That day several city blocks were swept clean of all structures and 61 people died.
The first edition of Tsunami , published in 1988, provided readers with a complete examination of the tsunami phenomenon in Hawai'i. This second edition adds many eyewitness accounts of the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 and expands its coverage to include major tsunamis in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Fiji, Alaska, California, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean, as well as the 1998 devastation in Papua New Guinea. Dramatic photographs and accounts of experiencing a tsunami firsthand are placed within the framework of the how and why of tsunamis, our scientific understanding of these phenomena, and the current status of the Tsunami Warning System, which is widely used to forecast and measure tsunamis and prepare coastal areas for potentially deadly tsunami strikes.Customer Reviews
Rated 5 starsStill the best place to start on tsunami
This is the review I wrote in 1988 of the first edition of "Tsunami!" The second edition is about twice as long, reflecting additional research: For a good, simple, workable idea, tsunami prediction has had a tough career. First, the idea was scoffed at. Thomas Jaggar, the founder of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, had the idea that seismographic indications of big earthquakes could give hours of warning that a destructive...
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Rated 4 starsDon't Turn Your Back On The Ocean
Tsunami! (Second Edition) is written from a Hawaiian Islands perspective, but includes tsunamis from around the world. A large portion of the book is devoted to recounting the experiences of individuals who witnessed a tsunami firsthand. Many of the stories survivors shared have been intertwined by the authors, providing a panoramic view of the cataclysmic events. In addition to the collection of personal experiences, the...
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Rated 5 starsA very good book about the Pacific tsunami hazard
The recent cataclysm in Southeast Asia points up a problem about which Pacific Ocean residents have long known; tsunamis or "tidal waves". This book is written by Dr. Walter Dudley, one of the chief experts on tsunamis, and on how to detect them, and protect against them. The book is well-organized, highly readable for professional and lay persons alike, and is a valuable contribution to literature on this most important...
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Rated 5 starsLearn about tsunamis!
Now that there has been a huge disaster, with a tsunami off the coast of Sumatra in 2004, we may be interested in looking at a book about tsunamis, written in 1998. This book boasts about the early warning system in Hawaii. And it tells about proposals to install real-time tsunami detectors to protect Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and much of the rest of the Pacific Ocean shores. Dudley and Lee begin with a description...
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Rated 5 starsTsunami! - Experiences and Explanations
This fascinating book is told from the perspectives of victims, observers and researchers. It gives vivid descriptions (Mrs. Ito floating out of her house on a screen) that are terse and exciting without being overblown. Some of the pictures, such as people running from the 1960 tsunami which struck Hilo, HI are simply amazing. Interspersed in the text, the authors also give a clear and concise summary, with charts,...
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