Click to play videoNew Delhi: What is a tsunami and what makes it so lethal? And is India prepared to handle one, of the type that hit Japan on Friday following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale. The earthquake was the fifth most powerful in over 100 years. It stuck 10 kilometers below the sea, 400 kilometers from Japan's capital Tokyo, yet it ruined the city.
When that quake rocked the seabed, it also churned the water. Like ripples in a washtub, those waves raced across the ocean. When the shore blocked their path, they reared up, 13 feet high then slammed in, washing away cars, boats and buildings. Similar waves or tsunamis also threatened 19 countries on the Pacific coast.
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), set up after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, was ready and tracking the tsunami. INCOIS engineers work around the clock, analysing data from earthquake monitors and sensors on India's coasts.
"We have actually access to about 300 national and international seismic stations which are streaming data in real time to INCOIS," said an INCOIS official.
If a tsunami does strike, the National Disaster Management Authority should be among the first to reach and rescue people. While their Delhi office was unprepared to handle calls about the tsunami, late on Friday afternoon, the Authority Vice Chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy spoke about the tsunami.
"The entire Indian Ocean does not have any tsunami threat," said Reddy.
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