Map of earthquake locations.

Countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

Chile earthquake of 1960: tsunami

A scene of devastation caused by Tsunami waves in Kalapet village near Pondicherry

A Body is being retrieved after few days of ordeal at Nagapattinam on January 02, 2005

An All Party Meeting to discuss Relief and Rehabilitations Measures of Tsunami Tragedy held in New Delhi on
January 9, 2005

A massive tsunami, generated by a powerful undersea earthquake, engulfing a residential area in Natori, Miyagi
prefecture, northeastern Honshu, Japan, on March 11, 2011. Kyodo/AP
 Banda Aceh, Indonesia, before and after the 2004 tsunamiPhotos taken before and after the arrival of a massive
tsunami highlight the destruction of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on December 26, 2004. The tsunami was generated by
a magnitude-9.1 earthquake that occurred only 30 metres (98 feet) beneath the floor of the Indian Ocean. NASA
tsunamiAfter being generated by an undersea earthquake or landslide, a tsunami may propagate unnoticed over
vast reaches of open ocean before cresting in shallow water and inundating a coastline. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

tsunamiJohn Rafferty, associate editor of Earth sciences of Encyclopædia Britannica, discussing

tsunamis.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Illapel, Chile, earthquake and tsunamiA magnitude-8.3 earthquake centred out to sea some 46 km (28.5 miles)
west of Illapel, Chile, struck on September 16, 2015, producing widespread damage from shaking and tsunami
waves measuring at least 4 metres (13 feet) high
A seawall at Tsu, Japan
 One of the deep water buoys used in the DART tsunami warning system

Tsunami hazard sign at Bamfield, British Columbia 

A tsunami warning sign in Kamakura, Japan 

The monument to the victims of the 1946 tsunami at Laupahoehoe, Hawaii

Tsunami memorial in Kanyakumari beach

 
 

A Tsunami hazard sign (Spanish - English) in Iquique, Chile.

Tsunami Evacuation Route signage along U.S. Route 101, in Washington

Tsunami warning sign

An illustration of the rhythmic "drawback" of surface water associated with a wave. It follows that a very large
drawback may herald the arrival of a very large wave.

When the wave enters shallow water, it slows down and its amplitude (height) increases.
The wave further slows and amplifies as it hits land. Only the largest waves crest.

Drawing of tectonic plate boundarybefore earthquake

 

Overriding plate bulges under strain, causing tectonic uplift.

 

Plate slips, causing subsidence and releasing energy into water.

 

The energy released produces tsunami waves.

Lisbon earthquake and tsunami in November 1755.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami at Ao Nang, Krabi Province, Thailand

Tsunami aftermath in Aceh, Indonesia, December 2004.