Today is World Tsunami Day. In December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 5th as World Tsunami Awareness Day, calling on countries, international bodies and civil society to raise tsunami awareness and share innovative approaches to risk reduction.
Regional Coordinator of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), Eric Mackie, explained what causes a tsunami to occur while speaking on the NOW Morning Show.
He said there are three types of tsunamis – a local tsunami, a regional tsunami and a tele-tsunami.
Tsunamis are rare events but can be extremely deadly. In the past one hundred years, 58 of them have claimed more than 260,000 lives, or an average of 4,600 per disaster, surpassing any other natural hazard.