Can underwater earthquakes and tsunamis be predicted?
Not very well. While scientists have invested an enormous amount of effort in attempting to predict submarine earthquakes, many occur with little or no warning. Tsunamis are also difficult to predict because not every large earthquake produces a strong tsunami. The false alarm rate for tsunamis is over 50 percent. How far can the waves travel and still cause harm? Thousands of miles. The waves are so powerful they can cause devastation thousands of miles from the earthquake’s epicenter. For example, a 1960 Chilean earthquake caused devastating tsunami waves as far away as Hawaii and Japan. This week’s tsunami caused deaths in Somalia, 3,000 miles from the quake’s epicenter. Why did the water recede right before the tsunami hit shore in Asia? Because a tsunami is a series of waves, sometimes the trough the lowest point in a wave -reaches shore first and the sea looks like it is emptying, an effect often called a drawdown. Minutes later, the crest of the wave hits. This cycle can be repe
