Tsunami!: Second Edition

Walter C. Dudley

Published by University of Hawaii Press 1998

Tsunami!

Second Edition

Walter C. Dudley

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824865306

Overview
Contents

About this book

On April 1, 1946, shortly after sunrise, the town of Hilo on the island of Hawai'i was devastated by a series of giant waves. Traveling 2,300 miles from the Aleutian Islands in less than five hours, the waves struck without warning and claimed 159 lives. Fourteen years later, on May 22, 1960, a massive earthquake occurred off of the coast of Chile. The earthquake generated giant waves that sped across the Pacific at 442 miles per hour, reaching Hilo in just fifteen hours. The first wave to hit the town was a modest four feet higher than normal, the second nine feet. Before the third wave could arrive, a tidal phenomenon known as a bore smashed into the Hilo bayfront, with thirty-five foot waves that wrenched buildings off their foundations. That day several city blocks were swept clean of all structures and 61 people died.

The first edition of Tsunami!, published in 1988, provided readers with a complete examination of the tsunami phenomenon in Hawai'i. This second edition adds many eyewitness accounts of the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 and expands its coverage to include major tsunamis in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Fiji, Alaska, California, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean, as well as the 1998 devastation in Papua New Guinea. Dramatic photographs and accounts of experiencing a tsunami firsthand are placed within the framework of the how and why of tsunamis, our scientific understanding of these phenomena, and the current status of the Tsunami Warning System, which is widely used to forecast and measure tsunamis and prepare coastal areas for potentially deadly tsunami strikes.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Want to Help? Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
1. With No Warning The 1946 Tsunami from the Aleutians Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. What Is a Tsunami? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
3. The Development of the Warning System Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
4. The Warning System in Action: The 1952 and 1957 Tsunamis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
5. Disaster by Night: The 1960 Tsunami from Chile Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
6. The 1964 Good Friday Earthquake and Tsunami Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
7. Local Tsunamis in Hawai‘i Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
8. Recent Tsunamis around the World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 380

eBook

Published: November 1, 1998
ISBN: 9780824865306