Whether or not Plato's tale of the lost continent of Atlantis is true, skeptics concede that the myth may have some foundation in a great tsunami of ancient times.

Generally the first salvo of a tsunami is a rather sharp swell, not different enough from an ordinary wave to alarm casual observers.

This in turn sets off an alarm, notifying the observers at the station that a tsunami is in progress.

By means of charts showing wave-travel times and depths in the ocean at various locations, it is possible to estimate the rate of approach and probable time of arrival at Hawaii of a tsunami getting under way at any spot in the Pacific.

A classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami, resulting in coastal flooding.

' Ż ' is pronounced just like the English ' Z ' as in ' Zebra ', while ' Z ' is used to make the sound of ' ts ' in English ( like ' tsunami ' or ' maths ').

When the epicenter of a large earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently to cause a tsunami.

A particularly dangerous form of slow earthquake is the tsunami earthquake, observed where the relatively low felt intensities, caused by the slow propagation speed of some great earthquakes, fail to alert the population of the neighbouring coast, as in the 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake.

A point to note is that Indian Government has a no receive aid policy since the tsunami that struck India but Indian registerred NGOs look to Japan for much investment in their projects

Originally started after the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, Knitters Without Borders is a charity challenge issued by knitting personality Stephanie Pearl-McPhee that encourages knitters to donate to Médecins Sans Frontières ( Doctors Without Borders ).

* 1755 – Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty thousand and ninety thousand people.

Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins ; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history with over 230, 000 people killed in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

Tsunami and tides both produce waves of water that move inland, but in the case of tsunami the inland movement of water is much greater and lasts for a longer period, giving the impression of an incredibly high tide.

Although the meanings of " tidal " include " resembling " or " having the form or character of " the tides, and the term tsunami is no more accurate because tsunami are not limited to harbours, use of the term tidal wave is discouraged by geologists and oceanographers.

If the first part of a tsunami to reach land is a trough — called a drawback — rather than a wave crest, the water along the shoreline recedes dramatically, exposing normally submerged areas.

This scale, known as the Soloviev-Imamura tsunami intensity scale, is used in the global tsunami catalogues compiled by the NGDC / NOAA and the Novosibirsk Tsunami Laboratory as the main parameter for the size of the tsunami.

Difficulties in calculating the potential energy of the tsunami mean that this scale is rarely used.

A tsunami cannot be precisely predicted, even if the magnitude and location of an earthquake is known.

In January 2005, Gibb joined his brother Barry and several other artists under the name One World Project to record a charity single in aid of Asian tsunami relief, titled " Grief Never Grows Old ".

Nuclear safety rules in the United States do not adequately weigh the risk of a single event that would knock out electricity from the grid and from emergency generators, as a quake and tsunami recently did in Japan, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said in June 2011.

Throughout this period, Five Live gained several awards including five Sony Awards in 2005 ; the single gold award was for its coverage of the 2004 Asian tsunami in the News Story Award category alongside another four silver awards and six nominations.

After the 2011 tsunami a single, ten-metre, two hundred year-old tree remained from the forest.

In addition to significant hydrographic data holdings ( single & multibeam ), CHS operates 78 permanent water level stations, a real time water level and forecast system in the St. Lawrence River, and participates in the operation of Atlantic & Pacific tsunami warning systems.

The mix album The Politics of Dancing 2 ( 2005 ) was preceded by a single " The Other Side ," featuring Wayne Jackson ; a song dedicated to the victims, and their families, of the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that struck Thailand on 26 December 2004.

In 2011 Zeppet Store reunited, with both Akabane and Gomi, to record a new single with the proceeds going to aid the victims of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

: A charity single by Japan United with Music, composed of many different Japanese artists, for recovery from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

In 2005, Hudson produced a new, multi-artist recording of Eric Clapton's 1993 song " Tears in Heaven " as a charity single for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

The biggest loss from a single family was when five of Zulkifli Mohamad Noor's seven children were killed when the tsunami struck at Pasir Panjang beach.

However, the often repeated legend that Nii-jima and Shikine-jima were once a single island that was separated by huge tsunami caused by the 1703 Genroku earthquake has no basis in geology.

The profits for the single were donated to Stevie Wright and the Salvation Army to improve drug and alcohol rehabilitation, as well as the Red Cross for the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

About a year later, he left Y100 for New York's Hot 97, but was fired on January 31, 2005, along with comedian Todd Lynn, for his role in writing, producing and broadcasting the " Tsunami Song ", a parody of the 1985 single " We Are the World " which mocked the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

From most reports it seems clear that a single event, the tsunami, resulted in a number of failures that set the stage for the accidents.

However, on 6 April 2011, Pendulum released " Ransom " as a single via their website with all proceeds going to the Help for Japan fund post the tsunami.

Their single " Akatsuki " was first sold exclusively at that concert and the following day's, later being available as a digital download with all proceeds donated to aid the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

While a wind wave never travels at more than 60 miles per hour, the velocity of a tsunami in the open sea must be reckoned in hundreds of miles per hour.

While accounts of the progress of the tsunami came in from various points in the Pacific ( Midway reported it was covered with nine feet of water ), the Hawaiian station made its calculations and notified the military services and the police that the first big wave would arrive at Honolulu at 23:30 Greenwich time.

One was recorded in 1812 ; one measuring 7. 6 on the Richter Scale hit on November 30, 1983 at 21: 46 local time and lasted 142 seconds, resulting in a small tsunami which raised wave height in the lagoon to 1. 5 metres ( 5 ft ), and another on December 2, 2002, an earthquake measuring 4. 6 on the Richter Scale struck the island at 12: 21 a. m.

A biological survey conducted in early 2005 indicated erosional effects of the tsunami wave on Diego Garcia and other islands of the Chagos Archipelago.

One stretch of shoreline was found to have been breached by the tsunami wave, representing approximately 10 percent of the eastern arm.

Some early reports described the tsunami wave as being 40 meters ( 130 feet ) high, but later reports claimed it was 3 m ( 10 ft ).

Geological evidence shows that at around 6100 BC a tsunami caused by the Storegga Slides hit Shetland, ( as well as the rest of the east coast of Scotland ), and may have created a wave of up to high in the voes where modern populations are highest.

Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly rising tide, and for this reason they are often referred to as tidal waves.

The term tsunami comes from the Japanese 津波, composed of the two kanji 津 ( tsu ) meaning " harbor " and 波 ( nami ), meaning " wave ".

The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus ( Res Gestae 26. 10. 15-19 ) described the typical sequence of a tsunami, including an incipient earthquake, the sudden retreat of the sea and a following gigantic wave, after the 365 AD tsunami devastated Alexandria.

As the tsunami approaches the coast and the waters become shallow, wave shoaling compresses the wave and its speed decreases below.

Since the wave still has the same very long period, the tsunami may take minutes to reach full height.

Open bays and coastlines adjacent to very deep water may shape the tsunami further into a step-like wave with a steep-breaking front.

A large tsunami may feature multiple waves arriving over a period of hours, with significant time between the wave crests.

Regions with a high tsunami risk typically use tsunami warning systems to warn the population before the wave reaches land.

* January 20 – A massive wave sweeps along the Bristol Channel, possibly a tsunami, killing 2, 000 people.

A massive collapse of the western edge of the basin that formed McKinney Bay around 50, 000 years ago is thought to have generated a tsunami / seiche wave with a height approaching.