THE EARTHQUAKE AND SUBSEQUENT tsunami that devastated Japan have shown just how vulnerable modern society is to the power of Mother Nature. While tsunamis were largely unknown to the wider public before the hugely destructive 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, they have occurred many times in the past.
Tsunamis can be generated by any significant displacement of water in oceans or lakes, though are most commonly created by the movement of tectonic plates under the ocean floor, during an earthquake. But they can also be caused by volcanic eruptions, glacial carving, meteorite impacts or landslides.
Tsunamis have occurred often throughout history. So frequently in Japan, in fact, that they invented the word specifically for the phenomenon: 'tsu' meaning harbour and 'nami' meaning wave.
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