#13 - Terrifying tsunamis 可怕的海啸

1.A tsunami is a giant wave or series of waves.
Tsunamis form when a large amount of water in a sea or lake is moved suddenly. This sets up a circular wave, a bit like the ripples you see when you throw a pebble into a pond. The wave then zooms outwards until it hits land.

V A tsunami wave crashes onto the promenade on Ao Nang Beach, Thailand in 2004. The power and speed of a tsunami can easily sweep away cars and even entire buildings. V

2.When a tsunami hits, it can smash the coast to smithereens.
Out in the ocean, tsunami waves are very long, low and fast-moving. However, as a tsunami moves into shallow water, the wave slows down. All the water in it piles up, forming a powerful wall of water, often between 10 and 30 meters high. As it crashes onto the shore, it can flood towns, tearing up trees and sweep away cars, buildings, and people.

3.Most tsunamis are caused by earthquakes under the sea.
A section of seabed shifts suddenly and the water above it is jolted upwards. Tsunamis can also happen when a landslide or volcanic eruption throws a large amount of rock into the sea, pushing the water aside. This happened when Krakatau, a volcano in Indonesia, erupted in 1883. The tsunamis it caused killed 36,000 people.

4.The tallest tsunami was higher than a skyscraper.
It occurred at Lituya Bay, in Alaska, USA, in 1958. An earthquake triggered a landslide, rock and soil plunged into the sea. A giant tsunami, over 500 meters high, zoomed down the bay. Luckily, there were no towns there, but the wave stripped down the coast of trees. A giant tsunami such as this is sometimes called a mega-tsunami.

5.A tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 was the deadliest ever recorded.
It was caused by a huge undersea earthquake near the coast of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldive Islands. Around 230,000 people were killed.

V The town of Kalutara in Sri Lanka, shown on satellite images before (top) and after (bottom) being swamped by the deadly 2004 tsunami. V

海啸是一波浪还是一波浪。
当海洋或湖泊中的大量水突然移动时，海啸形成。这样就会形成一个圆形的波浪，有点像你把鹅卵石放入池塘时看到的波纹。然后波浪向外放大直到它撞到地面。

五，海啸波涛在2004年在泰国奥南海滩的长廊散落，海啸的威力和速度可以轻而易举地扫除汽车乃至整个建筑物。 V

2.海啸袭击时，可能会将海岸摧毁。
在海洋中，海啸波浪很长，低而快速。然而，随着海啸进入浅水，波浪减缓。所有的水都堆积起来，形成了一个强大的水墙，通常在10到30米之间。当它撞到岸边时，它可以淹没城镇，撕毁树木，扫除汽车，建筑物和人民。

大海啸是海上地震造成的。
一段海床突然转动，上方的水面向上颠簸。海啸也可能发生在山体滑坡或火山喷发时将大量岩石投入大海，将水推到一边。这发生在1898年印度尼西亚的一座火山爆发的克拉卡图（Krakatau），造成36000人死亡。

最高的海啸高于摩天大楼。
它发生在1958年在美国阿拉斯加的利图亚湾。地震引发了山体滑坡，岩石和土壤侵入海洋。海拔500多米的巨大海啸缩小了海湾。幸运的是，那里没有城镇，但波浪沿着树木的海岸剥离下来。这样的大海啸有时被称为大海啸。

2004年印度洋的海啸是迄今为止最致命的一次。
这是由于印度尼西亚，泰国，斯里兰卡，印度和马尔代夫群岛沿海附近海域地震巨大造成的。约有23万人丧生。

V在斯里兰卡的卡卢特拉镇，在上（上）和下（下）之间的卫星图像上被2004年致命的海啸淹没。 V