The recent climatic changes and the global warming have been accompanied by many evils, which in this case include the occurrence of tsunamis and the el-Niño scenario in different parts of the globe. The drastic climate change and global warming are widely caused by human factors like, increased use of fossil fuel which adds the amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere thus leading to the green house effect. Tsunamis occur due to the occurrences of earthquakes in the seafloor or ocean floor thus leading to high tides, which in this case move large amounts of water to the coastline (Golf, 2010).
Australia hasn’t been badly hit by recent tsunamis as compared to other countries along the Indian Ocean; where in this case countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia were badly hit by the recent tsunami. The 2010 Chilean earthquake led to massive tsunami early warnings, which in this case helped many Australians not to visit the coastline. Based on this discussion, the 2010 tsunami along the Indian Ocean didn’t affect Australia since adequate preparations had been made. Further, the indo-Australian tectonic plate slipped under part of the Eurasian plate; where in this case the tsunami waves which had been generated ended up sideswiping rather than hitting Australia. In addition, Australia was not badly hit by the 2004 tsunami since the earthquakes were generated to the north of Australia thus the north-west coast of Australia was not affected (Golf, 2010).
Tsunamis are very strong and move at very high speed, which in this case leads to the impact of the tsunamis being spread to wide geographical areas. The energy of a tsunami can be diverted to either sides through refraction and reflection; where in this case the tsunami continued west to India and eastern coast of Africa thus sparing Australia. Tsunamis move along diverse trench of the sea or ocean without losing much energy which is attributed to the depth of the sea. In addition, tsunamis will only slow down at the coastline where the sea depth becomes shallow (Golf 2010).
Tsunamis have had very adverse impacts in Australia in the past; where in this case tsunamis have caused the loss of hundreds of lives, destruction of property and the displacement of many people. The tsunami waves are very strong and can lead to many people being drowned by water near the coastline and the immense destruction of property thus the need for putting effective control measures in place (Golf 2010).
There are many questions which have been raised upon the occurrence of tsunamis along the Indian Ocean;
- Why hasn’t Australia been badly hit by the recent tsunamis along the Indian Ocean as compared to the other countries along the same coast?
Australia was not badly hit by the recent tsunamis along the Indian Ocean which in this case is due to the massive early warnings considered following the 2010 Chilean earthquakes. Based on this case, the Australians were informed to remain away from the coastline, thus leading to less impacts of the tsunami on Australia. Further, the fault line from the Indian Ocean ran from the north to south, where in this case Australia escaped since the tsunami energy was directed towards the North West (Golf 2010).
- What causes earthquakes in the sea floor?
This question is also in the minds of many people; whereby in this case many are in the dark about the cause of earthquakes along the seafloor. Earthquakes are very rampant along the seafloor due to the movement of tectonic plates, whereby in this case tectonic plates may move towards each other, away from each other or slip under one another thus causing an earthquake. Based on this discussion the earthquakes are very powerful and lead to the displacement of large amounts of water thus causing tsunamis (Golf, 2010).
- What are the measures that Australia is putting in place so as to minimize or totally avoid the effects of tsunamis?
In order to avoid the adverse effects from tsunamis, Australia has put into place adequate facilities which ensure that early warning signs are effectively put into consideration. In addition, Australia has also been in the process of relocating the communities living along the low coastlines to upper grounds (Golf, 2010).
Based on the discussion, the occurrences of tsunamis are widely caused by natural factors like earthquakes and tectonic movement; whereby in this case man has no influence to the occurrence of tsunamis. However, in order to reduce the impacts of the tsunamis in Australian and other parts of the world early warning systems should be devised so as to enhance the awareness regarding the instances of tsunamis. Further, governments should strategize on how to move the communities living around the low coastline to upper grounds so as to avoid the adverse effects of tsunamis.
References
Golf, J., 2010. Why hasn’t Australia been badly affected by recent tsunamis?