What is Tsunami?
{{cleanup|reason=almost no refs, few sections when there can be many, italics in wrong places, several grammar mistakes. |date=September 2024}} {{one source|date=October 2021}} [[File:2004-tsunami.jpg|thumb|right|Tsunami that occurred in 2004 in [[Thailand]]. The water of the wave can be seen behind the palm trees in the background.]] [[File:2011Sendai-NOAA-TravelTime-Ttvulhvpd9-06.jpg|thumb|right|Estimated tsunami travel time forecast map for the [[2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami|2011 Sendai tsunami]], [[Japan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.php |title=USGS Poster of the Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 - Magnitude 8.9 |access-date=6 December 2017 |archive-date=30 May 2012 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/682YOLLnA?url=http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>]] A '''tsunami''' (from Japanese, meaning “harbor wave”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nthmp-history.pmel.noaa.gov/terms.html|title=Tsunami Terminology|publisher=[[NOAA]]|access-date=2022-04-08|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225143835/http://nthmp-history.pmel.noaa.gov/terms.html|archive-date=2011-02-25}}</ref>) is a [[natural disaster]], a series of fast-moving [[wave]]s in the [[ocean]] caused by powerful [[earthquake|earthquakes,]] [[Volcano|volcanic eruption]]s, [[landslides]], or a meteor impact in the ocean. A tsunami starts as a small wave and builds up into a larger wave, and starts suddenly. The waves travel at a great [[speed]] across an ocean with little [[energy]] loss. They can remove [[sand]] from [[beach]]es, destroy [[tree]]s, toss and drag [[vehicle]]s and [[house]]s and even destroy whole [[town]]s and cities. Tsunamis can even be caused when a meteorite strikes the earth’s surface, though this is very rare. A tsunami normally occurs in the Pacific Ocean, especially in what is called the [[ring of fire]] (a volcanically active region around the ocean’s e