What is a tsunami?

Lesson objectives;

To learn how Tsunamis are caused and how destructive they can be.

To look at the Indian Ocean Tsunami as a case study.

Key words: Richter scale Tsunami Causes Effects Primary and secondary Indonesia Sri Lanka

How do tsunamis occur?

What is a tsunami? A Tsunami is a giant _____ or series of

waves usually caused by an _________ or _____on the sea bed. As the tsunami travels through _____ water the wave may be less than ____ metre in height but it can reach ______ of up to _____ mph. When the wave nears the _____ it _____down and quickly increases to a height of ____ meters or more before _______ onto the coast.

crashing 15 slows land deep speeds onewave 500 earthquake volcano

Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2004_Indonesia_Tsunami.gif

Areas affected by the Tsunami

Model Making

Using the play dough model a Thai fishing village, a hotel resort and the height of the wave…try and be as accurate with your scale as possible.

3 metres

4 storey hotel – 10 metres

15 metres

Model Making

What did your model show to you?

How hard was it to make?

What would some of the effects be of a wave this size?

You’re the TV presenter! You are going to see a short clip of film

just over a minute long. You need to imagine you are the presenter

and you are going to write the script in your exercise books!

Thankfully you have a co-presenter who you can work with – they are in the desk next to you.

Video (from 35 – 1.52)