Why did the Russian earthquake caused more damage than tsunami?

This was one of the most strong earthquakes ever registered – but so far it has not led the catastrophic tsunami that many were afraid of.

When Quake 8.8-Magnese struck Eastern Russia at 11:25 local time on Wednesday (00:25 BST), it sparked concerns about the coastal population in the Pacific.

Millions of people were evacuated as the minds returned to the devastating tsunami of boxing Day 2004 in the Indian Ocean and Japan 2011, both caused by such great earthquakes.

But today’s tsunami was much less difficult, although it caused some harm.

So what caused the earthquake and the tsunami – and why was it not as bad as it was originally afraid?

The Kamchatka Peninsula is remote, but is located in the “Pacific Ring of Fire” – so -called because of the large number of earthquakes and volcanoes that happen here.

The upper layers of the Earth are divided into sections – tectonic plates – which all move against each other.

The Pacific Ring on Fire is a rainbow of these plates that extends around the Pacific. Eighty percent of world earthquakes are found along the ring, according to British geological studies.

Right along the coast of the peninsula, the Pacific plate moves northwest about 8 cm (3 inches) per year – only about twice the big speed your nails grow, but quickly by tectonic standards.

There it comes in contact with another, smaller plate – called Ohhotsk Microplate.

The Pacific plate is oceanic, which means there are dense rocks and wants to sink under a less dense microplac.

As the Pacific plate sinks to the center of the ground, it heats up and begins to melt, effectively disappears.

But this process is not always smooth. Often, the plates can be stuck as they move one past the other and the prevailing plate drags down.

This friction can accumulate for thousands of years, but then it can be suddenly released in just a few minutes.

This is known as an earthquake in Megtrust.

“When we usually think about earthquakes, we imagine an epicenter as a small point on a map. However, for such a large earthquake, the error will be torn through many hundreds of kilometers,” explained Dr. Stephen Hicks, a teacher of ecological seismology at London University College.

“It is this huge amount of slipping and the area of the fault generates such a high magnitude of the earthquake.”

The largest earthquakes recorded in history, including the three strongest in Chile, Alaska and Sumatra, were all earthquakes in Megtrust.

And the Kamchata Peninsula is predisposed to strong earthquakes.

In fact, another large magnitude earthquake of 9.0 struck less than 30 km (19MI) since today’s earthquake in 1952, the US geological survey said.

This sudden movement can displace the water over the plates, which can then travel to the coastline like a tsunami.

In the deep ocean, the tsunami can travel at more than 500 km/h (800 km/h), approximately as fast as a passenger plane.

Here the distance between the waves is very long and the waves are not very high – rarely more than a meter.

But as tsunami enters the shallow water near the land, it slows down, often up to about 20-30 km / h.

The distance between the waves is shortened and the waves grow to height, which can effectively create a wall of water near the shore.

But in no case is it guaranteed that a very strong earthquake will lead to a particularly high tsunami, reaching far inside.

Today’s earthquake brought tsunami waves of 4 m (13 feet) in parts of Eastern Russia, according to authorities there.

But they do not come close to the waves dozens of meters from the day of boxing 2004 in the Indian Ocean and Japan 2011.

“The height of the tsunami wave is also affected by the local forms of the seabed near the shore and (the form) of the earth where it arrives,” says Prof. Lisa McNeal, a tectonics professor at the University of Southampton.

“These factors, together with how populated the coast is, affect how serious the impact is,” she added.

Initial reports from the geological part of the United States are said to have focused on a rather narrow depth, about 20.7 km (12.9 miles) below the earth’s surface.

This can lead to a greater displacement of the seabed and therefore a larger wave of tsunami, but it is difficult to say for sure so soon after the event.

“One of the options is the tsunami models may have taken a conservative assessment of the earthquake depth,” Dr. Hicks told BBC News.

“You could potentially displace this earthquake for another 20 kilometers deeper, and this will actually significantly reduce the amplitude of tsunami waves.”

Another important element is the development of early warning systems.

Due to the high appearance of earthquakes in the Pacific region, many countries have tsunami centers. They send warnings through public reports to the evacuation population.

She did not have such a system when the tsunami of the day of boxing happened in 2004 – leaving many people without time to evacuate.

More than 230,000 people have died in 14 countries in the Indian Ocean.

Early warning systems are important because of the limited ability of scientists to predict when an earthquake will occur.

The US geological survey He recorded an earthquake measuring 7.4 in the same region ten days before.

This may be a prediction – an early release of energy – but it is not a predictor for the exact time of a future earthquake, explained Prof. McNale.

“Although we can use how fast the plates move, GPS to measure current movements, and when previous earthquakes have occurred, we can use this information just to make forecasts for an earthquake,” she said.

The geophysical study of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GS RAS) will continue to monitor the region as it predicts that they may continue next month.