VALI OF DISTRUCTION OF TSUNAMI WAVE

April Fools' Day 1946. A day for tricks and fun everywhere...everywhere but Hilo, Hawaii, that is. It was 7:00 a.m. and as the fishermen were getting the last of their early morning catch, the sea decided to play a trick on them. Suddenly the ocean rushed out, leaving fish and boats stranded on bare sand. The fishermen, quite aware of the impending danger, rushed to shore to warn the town of the approaching disaster

On July 10, 1958, an earthquake triggered a landslide, which created a wave that wiped out trees 1,700 feet up a hillside on the opposite side of Lituya Bay, Alaska.

Within minutes a wave that had traveled 2,500 miles from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska came crashing into Hilo. It killed one hundred fifty-nine people and caused millions of dollars in damages. The wave that destroyed Hilo is one of the most powerful and most feared natural disasters of all: the tsunami!

A tsunami (soo-NAH-mee) is a series of waves that occur in an ocean or other large body of water and that are caused by some activity that displaces large amounts of water. Tsunami is the Japanese word for "harbor wave."

       Tsunamis are usually caused by earthquakes that occur on the seafloor or in coastal areas. The energy generated by the earthquake is transmitted through the water. In deep oceans the energy in these seismic sea waves can travel virtually unnoticed because the wave height may be only twelve inches. When this energy reaches the shallow waters of coastlines, bays, or harbors, it forces the water into a giant wave. Some tsunamis may reach heights of 100 feet or more.

       Although a relatively rare event, since 1992 tsunamis have claimed over 2,000 lives worldwide. The tsunamis were caused by earthquakes in Japan, Indonesia, and Nicaragua. Damage to cities along coastlines has been in the millions of dollars.