Fighting tsunamis

I was thinking that the tactics mentioned above might stop the initial waves from breaking on shore, but it wouldnt stop the massive flow of water.

You have to remember that the 1st wave is just the tip, behind that is a wall of water that has risen 20-60 feet that isnt gonna stop for nothing.

This MegaThrust was equivalent to 1 million a-bombs, there is no way this force could be stopped or even slowed down......

Well, it is theoretically possible, all it really takes is an equal amount of energy exerted towards the Tsunami, to cancel it out, of course this would need to be done far long before it reached shore, and the amount of energy required is far beyond our reach at this point.

So I will say that it is virtually impossible, but more importantly, even though this sounds insensitive, 100,000 people is not a significant loss of life, in the grand scheme of course. All we can do is roll with the punches and hope chance favors us, that is really all there is to it.

Sending an equal wave at a tsunami will not cancel it out, even if it were possible.

Tsunamis are similar in form to huge ripples like those produced by rain drops in puddles.

Look at the rain in a puddle, the ripples simply pass each other.

Massive sea walls can cause flooding in areas which don't have sea walls. This is why some sea walls are now being demolished.


[edit on 30-12-2004 by danrok]

Well it looks like from the responses, that we are, as we have always been, at the mercy of the sea. I wonder if we will really ever find a way to control this force of nature.

Originally posted by skychief
Well it looks like from the responses, that we are, as we have always been, at the mercy of the sea. I wonder if we will really ever find a way to control this force of nature.

To some extent, yes we are at the mercy of the sea.

The best sea defences are natural wetland areas, swamps, etc. But, these areas need to be large in order to absorb the ocean at its worst. They act as a buffer between dry land and the ocean.

Trouble is people like to live on the coast, others have to because they are fishermen. Certain industries need to be on the coastline.

Looks like one city did have a wall and apparently it worked to save them from the outsider wave this time. Though I'd hate to see beautiful beaches made ugly with a wall, in some circumstances they might be a good way to go.

Historic Town in India Saved by Sea Wall By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer

At its height, the barrier running along the water's edge reaches about 27 feet above sea level. The boulders, some weighing up to a ton, are weathered black and brown.

On Dec. 26, when towering waves crashed against India's southern coast, the wall held.

[edit on 3-1-2005 by outsider]

An idea which apparently works as well:

GENEVA (Reuters) - Barriers such as coastal mangrove forests and coral reefs saved lives by deflecting Asia's tsunami and governments should protect such natural bulwarks against the wrath of the sea, a leading environmental group said on Tuesday.

complete story

maybe instead of looking for "human design" we should search for an answer in nature?

I agree jazzgul, but unfortunately thick mangrove forests and swamp lands don't play well in the tourism game. These areas garner so much tourism because of thier white sandy beaches and ocean front developments.

Originally posted by skychief
I agree jazzgul, but unfortunately thick mangrove forests and swamp lands don't play well in the tourism game. These areas garner so much tourism because of thier white sandy beaches and ocean front developments.

what about coral reefs? Can they protect many "white sandy beaches"?
If we cand find the way how to plant them and grow them of course...

Now, thats a good idea! Maybe they could possibly start some arifical reefs such as sinking some old ships or concrete type structures. Of course with the lively hood of these people being fishing I wonder how this might affect thier trade.

Originally posted by skychief
This is strange question, albeit a relevant question, that might come across sounding pretty na�ve but is there any way that we can stop, destroy or hamper an impending tsunami?

In theory I suppose, but in reality they are just too big

Would it be possible to counteract this wave of energy with created energy heading in its general direction?

And how would this be generated? The earthquake that caused this tsunami was eqivalent to something like hundreds or thousands of times as much energy as hiroshima or nagasaki. it was caused by the movement of global tectonic plates and it stretched across the entire indian ocean and affected an absolutely enourmous amount of coastline.

I�m not talking about the science fiction cure all of nuclear weapons but more of a series of powerful bursts of energy. Do we even have anything that could even come close to disturbing that type of energy?
Absolutely not, especially if nukes aren't used, which probably wouldn't work anyway.


A tsunami is just a wave. A big one, but nothing more. They can't be stopped anymore than earthquakes can be stopped.

The indian ocean doesn't have a tsunami monitoring system. Think about that for a moment. Instead of investing money is some unworkable system to try to zap a tsunami (an honest effort, not trying to denigrate it as a b/s idea), perhaps the countries in that part of the world should develop a tsunami monitoring system. Its used by other countries with good success. Usually the people who die after the warning are people who wanted to see it.

Also, you'd need this system anyway, to know that a tsunami is approaching, and zap it with this other method. You wouldn't be able to see it in the water infact, not the open ocean, where is where you'd want to deal with it in teh first place, because its only a small height in the ocean.

So we wouldn't be able to target it, or even know its comming in the first place.

Well back to that book I read for a moment....

In it, some terrorists had caused the tsunami to happen by setting off some kind of bombs that had been dropped down holes that had been drilled in the Antarctic ice sheets resulting from the heat and explosion caused a huge chunck of ice to plumet into the ocean and created the wave that posed the threat in it.

How possible do ya'll believe this is to actually being a reality some day? Or is it even possible nowadays or not?