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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tsunami! - Experiences and Explanations,
This review is from: Tsunami! (Revised) (Latitude 20 Books) (Paperback)
This fascinating book is told from the perspectives of victims, observers and researchers. It gives vivid descriptions (Mrs. Ito floating out of her house on a screen) that are terse and exciting without being overblown. Some of the pictures, such as people running from the 1960 tsunami which struck Hilo, HI are simply amazing. Interspersed in the text, the authors also give a clear and concise summary, with charts, of the study of tsunamis. They describe the warning system currently in place - how an earthquake in Alaska creates a tsunami which takes approximately 5 hours to reach Hawii - and how it needs to be improved. Best of all, they describe how to recognize the signs of a tsunami and how to avoid becoming a victim. This book could easily give The Perfect Storm a run for it's money!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good book about the Pacific tsunami hazard,
By
This review is from: Tsunami! (Revised) (Latitude 20 Books) (Paperback)
The recent cataclysm in Southeast Asia points up a problem about which Pacific Ocean residents have long known; tsunamis or "tidal waves". This book is written by Dr. Walter Dudley, one of the chief experts on tsunamis, and on how to detect them, and protect against them.
The book is well-organized, highly readable for professional and lay persons alike, and is a valuable contribution to literature on this most important subject. The diagrams readily follow the text and greatly augment its understanding. The photographs are interesting, but average. However, tsunamis are not a subject in which photographs aid understanding to any real degree. Dr. Dudley carefully examines the various causes of this phenomenon, including meteor strikes and landslides, matters which have only recently come to the attention of science. He explains the physics of the tsunami with a merciful absence of complex mathematical equations. Considerable attention is devoted to the creation and development of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, with specific reference being made to mistakes and corrections follwing each event. A very fine summary of each damaging Pacific tsunami over the last half of the 20th Century gives a excellent portrayal of the ever-present danger from such spasms of nature. Looking to the future, Dr. Dudley urges continued education and refinement of the Warning System as the best way to avoid enormous human disaster from these waves. It is ironic that he counsels warning systems should be in place all over the world, since any large body of water is subject to such disturbances. Since both our mainland coasts are subject to tsunamis, I think this book is must reading for anyone with coastal property, particularly for folks in Washington, Oregon, and California. Tsunamis cannot be stopped, but while property can be replaced, human life cannot. This book will help save yours by showing the dimension and frequency of the hazard, and what to do when a tsunami is imminent. I recommend this book very, very highly.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn about tsunamis!,
By Jill Malter (jillmalter@aol.com) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tsunami! (Revised) (Latitude 20 Books) (Paperback)
Now that there has been a huge disaster, with a tsunami off the coast of Sumatra in 2004, we may be interested in looking at a book about tsunamis, written in 1998.
This book boasts about the early warning system in Hawaii. And it tells about proposals to install real-time tsunami detectors to protect Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and much of the rest of the Pacific Ocean shores. Dudley and Lee begin with a description of the tsunami of April 1, 1946. 48 minutes after the earthquake, a 100-foot high wave struck Unimak Island, Alaska. Hawaii was over 2300 miles from the site of the earthquake, but it was struck less than 5 hours later, and there was considerable damage. There is also a description of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Lisbon, Portugal in 1755, killing tens of thousands of people. The book then describes how the complete lack of preparedness for the 1946 tsunami led to the development of an early warning system. This includes a "tsunami watch" and the use of the emergency broadcast system to warn everyone. And, of course, it includes predictions of wave arrival times at various places along the shores. In 1957, this system was tested when a 10-foot high tsunami from Alaska struck Hawaii. Hawaii's system was tested again in 1960, on the occasion of a very high magnitude earthquake in Chile (probably the largest earthquake in the world during the twentieth century). That generated a huge tsunami: those in Chile could have used an early warning of it! This tsunami was 35 feet high when it eventually struck Hilo, Hawaii. In 1964, the waves from the great Alaskan earthquake were less than a third that high when they reached Hawaii. The warning system was used to warn the residents of Hawaii in 1986 of a potentially damaging tsunami. But this turned out to be a false alarm: the waves that hit Hawaii were only one to four feet high and did no damage. The authors explain that Indonesia has been a frequent target of tsunamis, mentioning the ones in 1992 and 1994, as well as one that struck nearby Papua New Guinea in 1998. And it talks about the eruption of Krakatoa, which generated a tsunami that struck nearby Merak with a 135-foot high wave. Dudley and Lee discuss the threat of bolide-generated tsunamis (large meteor strikes). These could produce waves several hundred feet high, over a thousand miles away. The book concludes with a discussion of improvements in tsunami warning systems. Obviously, there is more work to be done! If you are near the beach and get hit by a big earthquake, some folks will tell you to head for the shore to get away from buildings and avoid the aftershocks. I suggest thinking twice about that! I recommend this book.
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