living in this world as amazing as it can be is also fraught with danger
we have to live with things like blizzards drought wildfires flash floods tornadoes and hurricanes
it's a wonder how we've learned to survive luckily we've developed many different things to help us
either prevent prepare for or totally avoid these disasters now as bad as all of these disasters are
our planet has one other disaster that dwarfs the rest of them in terms of danger
and that is a tsunami these huge walls of water are generated by oceanic seismic activity either
from earthquakes or volcanoes the displaced water from these events travel over the ocean
at blistering speeds until it hits a shore generating a huge wave that can measure over
100 feet high while we may have a little warning that a tsunami is coming there is
nothing that can stop it entire communities and cities can be washed away along with everyone
in them from italy to japan here are the five most powerful tsunamis in human history
the country of indonesia sits in an area that surrounds the pacific ocean known as the ring
of fire this is a ring of volcanoes that go around much of the ocean and are situated on
the edge of the pacific tectonic plate one of these volcanoes is located in indonesia on the
island of krakatoa in 1883 the volcano erupted with enough force that the sound was heard over
900 miles away in australia but because the volcano was situated so close to the sunda
strait it generated a giant 120 foot tsunami that rushed through the strait
taking out 295 towns and villages throughout western java and southern sumatra a total of 36
417 people perished in this area as a result of the wave smaller tsunamis were recorded throughout
the pacific countries including new zealand chile and even mexico although the death toll was high
could have been much worse the wave was tall but because it was a tsunami that was generated by
a volcano instead of an earthquake there wasn't nearly as much power behind it therefore almost
all of the deaths from this wave were confined to this area of indonesia and not other countries
tsunamis are usually synonymous with earthquakes the most powerful earthquake in recorded history
happened on may 20th 1960 just off the coast of southern chile measuring at a staggering 9.5
magnitude it shook the earth to its core the rupture zone alone stretched anywhere from 311
miles to 621 miles along the chilean coast but as bad as it was though didn't strike an extremely
populated area and only claimed 1655 lives in chile but the biggest danger was in the 82-foot
tsunami that was generated unlike the volcanic tsunami that we just discussed the power behind
this one was enough to create 82-foot waves villages all along the south american coast
felt effects other pacific countries also felt the power hawaii which is many thousands of miles away
was hit with waves that measured 30 feet once there it destroyed villages and was responsible
for 61 deaths other places that took damage were alaska japan and the philippines this tsunami
was significant not just because it was from the most powerful earthquake ever but because it was
the first recorded global tsunami never before had anyone witnessed a tsunami that crossed an entire
ocean in only a few hours and caused damage in another country yes they have happened in the
past but this one was the catalyst which sparked intensive research the southern tip of italy saw
europe's most powerful and most costly earthquake in history around 5 20 am local time on december
28 1908 a powerful earthquake struck underneath the strait of messina the body of water which
separates the island of sicily from the province of calabria which is the toe of italy shaking the
sea floor for 20 seconds as a 7.5 magnitude quake it generated waves that were over 40 feet high
cities towns and settlements all across the coasts of sicily and southern calabria were destroyed
including reggio calabria which was the former capital of the calabria region and messina the
major port town for the island of sicily after everything was said and done more than 80
000 people were killed many more were left homeless experts long believed that the tsunami
was caused by sea floor displacement that was caused by the earthquake however later research
suggested that an underwater landslide may have actually been the cause of this tragic event
japan is notorious for being a hot zone of seismic its history is riddled with instances of damage
and death caused by earthquakes but none compared to the devastation that was caused by a 9.0
magnitude earthquake that struck just off the tohoku region on march 11 2011. the quake shook
the entire region causing fairly large amounts of destruction however the worst of the devastation
from this quake was yet to come a few minutes after the earthquake was felt people looked out
into the ocean with terror a perfectly formed tsunami that measured as high as 132 feet in
some places was heading straight towards them it washed away houses vehicles buildings boats and
anything else in its path after the water subsided over 15 500 people were dead and an additional 450
000 were left homeless infrastructure was severely damaged in this area with speculation that the
damage was too great to rebuild from the worst damage took place at the nearby fukushima daiichi
nuclear power plant at first the shock of the earthquake did some damage but when the wave
came in it did so much that the reactor suffered a level seven meltdown one of only two in history
the other level seven meltdown was chernobyl in 1986. the radiation levels are still high
in the region and it looks as if it'll be years more before people will be able to settle the
area again the devastating force of this tsunami really can't be accurately represented it's just
too hard to comprehend over 120 000 buildings totally collapsed with another almost 1 million
either half collapsing or partially collapsing in the end the world bank estimated the total cost
of this event to be 235 billion making it the costliest natural disaster in recorded history
the day after christmas in 2004 saw one of the most deadly events in human history when a 9.3
magnitude earthquake struck just off the coast of sumatra this undersea mega thrust earthquake
occurred along the fault line between the burma plate and the indian plate to date it ranks among
the strongest earthquakes to ever be felt on earth displacement of the earth caused the sea
level above the epicenter to raise nearly 20 to 30 feet in a matter of seconds this was the cause
of the series of tsunamis that rocked countries along the indian ocean with waves that measured
over 100 feet tall anyone in its path was doomed 14 different countries saw the waves do damage and
take lives entire cities looked as if they never even existed the waves reached so far inland and
pulled so much debris back out to sea that the actual death toll was impossible to determine
but the estimated amount of lives lost between the 14 countries is 227 898. the earthquake was not
only the third largest earthquake ever recorded it also had the longest duration of faulting ever
observed with fierce shaking that lasted between 8 and 10 minutes the power from the earthquake was
enough to alter the earth's rotation shortening the length of a day by 2.68 microseconds
although it may seem a minuscule thing something with enough power to alter the earth itself is
definitely something to be taken seriously as far as the tsunami it still is to this
day the single worst tsunami in history to put things into perspective the tsunami was
directly attributed to one fatality at ruiel's near cape town south africa this place is 5
000 miles away from the epicenter as we said before earth can be a scary place especially when
you cannot escape from impending disasters but humanity has proven its ability to come together
to help other countries and other societies recover from such tragic events to learn more
about natural disasters be sure to click the link on screen to check out our video of the five worst
natural disasters in history as always thanks for watching and be sure to tune in next time