4 5 24 dangerous waves (science)

They did not know that two plates on the earth’s crust, the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate, had just moved.. The Earth’s plates in the Indian Ocean Area... The movement of the ocean

by Pam Zollman

Waves

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Susan Carlson, Steve McEntee

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © AP Photo/APTN; tp © BPPT/Handout/Reuters/Corbis; 7 © David Crossland/Alamy;

8 © Isu/Getty Images; 9 © Joe Fox/Alamy Images; 11 © AFP/Getty Images; 12 © AP Photo/APTN; 13 © James Robert Fuller/Corbis; 14 © BPPT/Handout/Reuters/Corbis

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ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02344-1

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by Pam Zollman

Dangerous

Waves

Table of Contents

A f r i c a n

P l a t e

A n t a r c t i c P l a t e

E u r a s i a n P l a t e

I n d i a n P l a t e

Tectonic plate division lines

3

How It Started

The morning of December 26, 2004, was

sunny, and thousands of people were enjoying the beach They did not know that two plates

on the earth’s crust, the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate, had just moved

The pink lines show how the earth’s

crust is divided into sections called

plates.

The Earth’s plates in the Indian Ocean Area

Then it happened As the Indian plate tried

to slide under the Eurasian plate, a fault, or long crack, suddenly broke open Earthquake!

The earthquake violently shook the ocean The energy from the earthquake created waves These waves looked small at first, but they

were traveling at 500 miles per hour—as fast as

an airplane It was a tsunami

The movement of the ocean floor at a nearby fault caused the earthquake and the tsunami

Ocean floor Ocean floor

Water

Tsunamis travel in a group of three or

more waves called a wave train As a tsunami approaches the shore, it enters shallow water

It then slows down, but the height of the

waves grows very large A tsunami is silent

as it travels across the ocean, but it roars like a freight train when it pounds the beach

The Quake Felt Around the World

The earthquake that caused the 2004 tsunami was the largest earthquake in

that area in 200 years It could be felt

in countries around the world, including

Canada, the United States, Peru, Japan,

Norway, and Italy The tsunami also

caused the tide to be higher than

normal in many countries far from

the quake.

No Warning

At that time, there was no tsunami

warning system in the Indian Ocean The

intruder became more dangerous as it entered the shallow waters

In many places, the ocean pulled away from the shoreline This was such a strange sight that people on the beach walked out onto the seafloor Then they saw the giant wave roaring toward the beach

That was when many people finally

realized the danger But it was too late

Many homes and buildings were destroyed More than 200,000 people died

Many people like to visit Thailand’s beautiful beaches.

Tilly in Thailand

Ten-year-old Tilly, from England, was on

vacation with her family in Thailand That

morning, she noticed the ocean was acting

strange It was foaming and seemed to be

rising Then she remembered a geography

lesson This was a tsunami!

Tilly warned her family to run just before the wave charged the beach They escaped

Alexa in Thailand

Alexa was in a hotel at 10:30 a.m A friend saw the huge wave coming and warned her The roar was unbelievably loud

The tsunami rammed the building Alexa escaped to a mountain and spent the night in the enclosure of a half-built hotel

The 2004 tsunami destroyed many hotels and other buildings in Thailand.

Tarasa Dwip Island

Abdul was at work in an observation tower

on Tarasa Dwip Island off the coast of India

He felt the shaking of a powerful earthquake

He knew that earthquakes could cause

tsunamis and warned as many people as

he could

Three giant waves destroyed many homes, but only three people died Many more would have suffered the same fate if Abdul had not

warned them

In some places, the

water was more than

20 feet high People in

observation towers like

this one could see the

waves coming.

9

The tsunami swept a man named Rizal and his friend out to sea Rizal grabbed an uprooted tree and hung on Unfortunately, he became separated from his companion He floated

and ate coconuts for eight days Finally, a ship rescued him

Sri Lanka

As the tsunami charged the shore, some babies got separated from their parents One was called “Baby 81.” His parents had so

much love and affection for their son that they worked hard to get him back Finally, they did! His real name is Abilass

Maldives

Dave worked in a hotel in the Maldives

At 11:00 a.m., Dave saw a wall of water rising from the ocean Wave after wave hit the

building The hotel was wrecked

Dave and the staff stayed on the island for two days The bond between them grew strong They were inseparable until they were rescued

by floatplanes that landed on the water

Some tiny islands disappeared after the tsunami.

The chief concern after the tsunami was rescuing people Some people had been swept out to sea Some were trapped in rubble Others were stranded on islands or mountaintops or roofs Survivors tried to find relatives Injured and exhausted people were treated at hospitals

The tsunami waves caused a lot of destruction on shore.

Rebuilding began right away in many places

There is still much work to be done.

Many resorts have since been rebuilt

However, soil was washed away in many areas and coral reefs offshore were damaged Some tourists have come back for vacations, but it

will take a long time for people to forget that terrible day

A New Warning System

The United States installed a warning buoy,

or large float, in the Indian Ocean in 2005 A tsunameter was attached to the ocean floor

It sends a signal to the buoy when the water pressure changes The buoy then sends a signal

to ground stations Buoys like these will help warn people of future tsunamis

Tsunameters like this one

have been added to the

Indian Ocean.

TARGET VOCABULARY Word Builder Many

words have word parts added to the end of

them In the word affection, -ion is added at

the end Think of some other words that have

endings added to the end of them Copy and

complete the chart below.

Write About It

Text to World Even though you can’t predict

natural disasters, you can be prepared Write a

one-paragraph emergency plan for your family

Be sure to include an evacuation plan and a list

of emergency supplies Use one word from the

Word Builder.

15

-ion

affection

?

?

-able

reliable

?

?

-ly

lively

?

?

TARGET VOCABULARY

affection

bond

charged

chief

companion

enclosure exhausted inseparable intruder suffered

TARGET STRATEGY Analyze/Evaluate Think care-fully about the text and form an opinion about it.

What word can be used to describe both a battery and something a bull did?

ISBN-13:978-0-547-02344-1 ISBN-10:0-547-02344-8

1032233

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: P

DRA: 38

Science

Strategy:

Analyze/Evaluate

Word Count: 915