Readers will remember the Japanese tsunami disaster of 2011. Here's newly discovered footage, showing the catastrophe from ground level. I wonder how many of those pictured actually survived?
Note the speed at which everything happened. A dry, normal suburban street was transformed into a disaster area in a matter of seconds. Very few people escaped from such locations, because they couldn't run faster than the water could rise.
Peter
4 comments:
It's pretty clear from the video that all those pictured survived. They were on higher ground to start with and the buildings - which had upper floors - remained standing.
Amazing. One of those 'amenities' that beachfront real estate sellers often neglect to mention, along with storm surge. A rare occurrence - but it only needs to happen once for the lesson to sink in.
Not many are listening though. Many of us live within 10 miles of a coastline, half of us within 50 miles. I doubt a tsunami would go THAT far, but then again, those river mouths are the lowest land adjacent to the oceans.
Thanks for the link above.
The obvious takeaway for me was that wood frame construction can't take any water surge. The buildings that remained standing were obviously concrete/steel structures. That's not a guarantee of survival, but it gives you a good starting point.
Living at sea level can be hazardous. Especially if you are within sight of it. Also, don't locate near bluffs, if you are within sight of the water. Behind or below them. That ground has been known to collapse with storm surge, let alone a tsunami.
It's a frightening realization that a 5mph current just calf high is more than enough to knock all people over. I got beaned with a boarding sea on my ship years ago. I was facing backwards, felt the ship shudder, it got dark, and I grabbed my watch partner and hugged a stanchion. We got knocked down, spent a good 5-6 seconds underwater, then washed 100feet aft. Any floating debris would have caused fatalities, but as it was, most of us broke a rib or fingers, and one guy's forearm and collarbone broke.
I can't imagine that there were many folks who got knocked over in that tsunami and lived to tell about it.
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