World Tsunami Awareness Day
Today is World Tsunami Awareness Day!
In December 2015, the UN General Assembly designated 5 November as World Tsunami Awareness Day.
Tsunamis are rare events but can be extremely deadly. In the past 100 years, 58 of them have claimed more than 260,000 lives, or an average of 4,600 per disaster, surpassing any other natural hazard.
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO works to coordinate national and regional tsunami early warning services, raising global awareness about effective actions, policies and practices to reduce exposure to disaster risk through its four Tsunami Warning and Mitigation Systems for the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Caribbean, and North-Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and Connected Sea regions. The IOC also assists Member States through education programmes and regular tsunami communication and evacuation exercises, increasing the coordination, readiness for and understanding of tsunamis among citizens and communities around the world.
What are Tsunamis?
The word "tsunami" is made from the Japanese words "tsu" (meaning harbor) and "nami" (meaning wave). A tsunami is a series of enormous waves created by an underwater disturbance usually associated with earthquakes occurring below or near the ocean. Volcanic eruptions, submarine landslides, and coastal rock falls can also generate a tsunami, as can a large asteroid impacting the ocean. They originate from a vertical movement of the sea floor with the consequent displacement of water mass.
Tsunami waves often look like walls of water and can attack the shoreline and be dangerous for hours, with waves coming every 5 to 60 minutes. The first wave may not be the largest, and often it is the 2nd, 3rd, 4th or even later waves that are the biggest. After one wave inundates, or floods inland, it recedes seaward often as far as a person can see, so the seafloor is exposed. The next wave then rushes ashore within minutes and carries with it many floating debris that were destroyed by previous waves.
Interesting fact: It is estimated that by the year 2030, an estimated 50 per cent of the world's population will live in coastal areas exposed to flooding, storms and tsunamis.
HOW TO OBSERVE #WorldTsunamiAwarenessDay
Many countries host events to help spread awareness for tsunamis. They hold educational seminars to help the public learn about tsunamis as well as discussion panels on disaster preparedness. Only coastal communities are affected by tsunamis. Even if you don’t live along the coast, you can still observe this day.
Here are some ways to do it:
Learn all about tsunamis
Think about what you would do in the event of a tsunami
Get a natural disaster emergency plan in place
When sharing on social media, use #WorldTsunamiAwarenessDay