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What Damages Do Tsunamis Cause?
Tsunamis cause a huge amount of damage to everything they hit. Even people on the other side of the world can be damaged by a tsunami. Here are some examples of the damages they can cause:
Tsunamis cause a huge amount of damage to everything they hit. Even people on the other side of the world can be damaged by a tsunami. Here are some examples of the damages they can cause:
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Damage To Other Countries
- People watching the tsunami on TV may not ever consider the effected area for a holiday again because they fear for their lives. This would damage the countries reputation and damage the economy as well.
- Countries who lost tourists in the tsunami are damaged because the families of the deceased will be upset.
- Many families with missing relatives or friends push for them to be identified and sent home as quickly as possible.
- Survivors of the tsunami and their families put their countries under great pressure to send planes over to get them out of the country.
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Damage To Families
- An estimated 150, 000 children were orphaned and left without any contact to an adult they knew and trusted (in the Boxing Day tsunami). This was extremely damaging because these children were left vulnerable, hungry and tired.
- Over 225, 000 people were killed in the Boxing Day Tsunami, every single one of those people belonged to a family which was and still is now broken. This was extremely damaging to people's happiness and wellbeing.
- Many people had missing family members. This could be because of the thousands of bodies that took months to identify, the hundreds of bodies that were swept out to sea or the grim reality that many bodies were ripped apart from the force of the water. This is damaging to the families because they don't have a body of their family member so they still have a small glimmer of hope that they are still alive.
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Damage To The Country
- After a tsunami, the country's economy is damaged. This is because many shops are destroyed and therefore most of the country is left unemployed. Hundreds of tsunami survivors are too busy trying to find lost family members and recover possession to even think about going to work. This means that the country has no cash inflow.
- Tsunamis cause millions of dollars worth of damage when they sweep through and crush almost every building in their path. This is damaging to the country because there are little to no monuments left and so that means no where to shelter people, no where to hand out food and supplies and no where to treat the sick, wounded and dying.
- The water drowned crops which meant the effected countries suffered food shortages as well.
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Damage To The Environment
- Timber, plastic and other wastes are carried out to the sea when some of the water is sucked back into the ocean. This is damaging to the environment because it can harm sea life and pollute water.
- Tsunami debris is washed onto the beaches of other countries. This is damaging to their environment and can harm sea life, animals and pollute the water.
- Bodies of people and animals are washed around the country. This is damaging because after a while the bodies begin to decompose and can be eaten by hungry animals and create a smell.
Examples Of The Damage Caused By Tsunamis
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How Can We Reduce the Damage Caused by Future Tsunamis?
There are many possible ways to reduce the damage of future tsunamis, although damage is inevitable when it comes to these powerful tsunamis.
There are many possible ways to reduce the damage of future tsunamis, although damage is inevitable when it comes to these powerful tsunamis.
- Mangrove forests are being grown around coastlines. Mangroves are proven to reduce the damage of a tsunami. Scientists say they do this by absorbing some of the wave's power, therefore the tsunami won't wreck as many houses and take as many lives.
- Man-made reefs and under water walls were built to prevent the build up of large tsunami waves (studies have shown that theses walls reduce the tsunami wave height by up to 83%).
- Big monuments can be built to withstand the impact of the tsunami. This reduces damage because large groups of people can hide from the water inside them.
- Big drains are constructed to guide the water back into the ocean. This reduces the damage because the big pools of water don't stay where they are, therefore the clean up process is quicker.
- Houses and buildings should be built to be able to withstand tsunamis. This would greatly deduce damage because less debris would be produced so the clean up is quicker and beaches of nearby countries such as Hawaii would not be effected.
- Back up hospitals should be built in case of a tsunami so that everyone that needs medical care can get it (a large amount of people died in the hospitals due to insufficient numbers of medicine and staff).
- Everyone from tourists to residents of a tsunami prone country should be aware of the safety procedures that should be taken in case of a tsunami. This would minimise damage because less people would be panicking because they don't know what to do.
- Technology should be in place that is able to detect tsunamis. This technology should be able to detect how fast the wave is moving, how powerful the wave is, how high the wave is and pinpoint exactly where the wave will hit. This would minimise damage because people would have a good warning, giving them more time to gather loved ones and important possessions and then get to safety.
- Alarms should be positioned around the coast lines that will go off along with a loud message of quick instructions (e.g. the Japan alarm emits a loud siren and a message that says "WARNING, WARNING, tsunami approaching, evacuate to higher ground immediately") this will warn people nearby to get moving to higher ground.
- Large nets and ships should be available to sweep the oceans. This would minimise damage because less debris would be left to float in the ocean and wash up on nearby beaches.
- All schools in tsunami prone countries should have a tsunami drill that is well known. Students in these schools should also have a secure place to evacuate to, should a tsunami occur.
- Everyone in the world should be educated about tsunamis and the power they have. Most of the deaths that occurred during the Boxing Day tsunami occurred because people didn't know what the tsunami was and so they weren't scared by it.
- Build houses, buildings and hotels on higher ground and further from the coastlines. This would reduce damage because most of the water would not reach the towns which means less loss of life and less destruction of monuments.
- Educate the public on signs of impending tsunamis (such as the water receding, extremely strong currents, little to no sea life and large earthquakes near coast lines). This would reduce damage because people would be able to evacuate with enough time.
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Who Is In Charge Of Reducing Tsunami Damage?
There isn't a specific job that is dedicated to reducing tsunami damage. To reduce damage, everyone pitches in. Just as they do to clean up damage. Mostly volunteers are brought in to help.
Volunteers help by:
Who else helps?
There isn't a specific job that is dedicated to reducing tsunami damage. To reduce damage, everyone pitches in. Just as they do to clean up damage. Mostly volunteers are brought in to help.
Volunteers help by:
- Retrieving bodies
- Rescuing survivors on land and out to sea
- Getting animals to safety
- Cleaning and removing debris, waste and wrecked cars and boats
- Clean beaches of nearby countries that debris has washed up on
- People with first aid training help out as nurses in hospitals
- Looking after orphans
- Feeding survivors
- Providing contact with families in other countries
- Comfort grieving survivors
- Reunite families that were separated
- Provide calm advice to worried or scared people
Who else helps?
- The army- helps with heavy work and similar things to volunteers
- Forensic scientists- identify and preserve bodies to return to families
- Sniffer dogs and rescue animals- help locate bodies and survivors
- Donators- donate money to rebuild buildings, feed and care for survivors and clear streets and oceans, and generally help get people their lives back
Below is a slide show containing real images of the help that the tsunami stricken countries received from various groups.