[sound of waves crashing] In the Sea of Japan there is a small island whose name is Okushiri. On the southern tip of this island there is a small village by the name of Aonae. All of these homes were present before July 12, 1993. And one can look at the monument that stands up in the center of your screen as a marker. 10 o'clock at night on July 12 a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurred that produced 1 hour of tsunami attacks followed by intense fires. These pictures were taken moments after the tsunami had destroyed most of the village and the fires that are raging are the effects of such a tsunami disaster. Oftentimes people to not consider that tsunamis, which basically flood the coastline, can also start fires. But in fact, for this particular event, the fire did the most damage to the community of Aonae. [sounds of fire] Now we are looking at the breakwater that was supposed to protect this village. It has been breached by the weight of the tsunami during the 1 hour of attacks that occurred the evening before. Examine all the debris in the water and those are the remnants of the homes that we saw prior to this tsunami on July of 1993. We are now looking at the waterfront area which the weight of the water crushed many of the homes and many of the buildings that were along the waterfront. But in addition to the weight of the water by the tsunami, floating debris, such as large fishing vessels, also crashed into these buildings, and as a result of this weight of the water plus the debris in the water, it had the effect of demolishing everything in its path. In this over flight of the southern tip of Okushiri Island shows the devastating effect of these waves. Notice all the brown debris in the water are the remnants of the 500 homes that were on this tip. And now it's only a sheet of sand with a scattering of fishing boats that tell us what happened here. There is the monument that we saw earlier. How could such a disaster occur, what are the processes of Earth that could create such a disaster? The Earth could be considered a large hot ball of molten lava and the top of this large hot ball are plates that are cool. These plates, as they rub against one another and as they dive beneath each other, build up stress during this motion and this stress is eventually relieved through the form of an earthquake. If we look at the plates as they exists today on the surface of the planet we see that in the Sea of Japan there is an intersection of three of these plates and is just so happens that one plate, the Asian plate, is diving under the North Pacific Plate, precisely where Okushiri Island exists. So we can visualize this then process of a plate diving underneath another plate, building up stress, and as it relieves that stress through a rebounding process it would lift up the water overlying and produce a tsunami as this animation depicts. That's the genesis of a tsunami, born of fire. The map you are looking at shows the areas where the largest earthquake occurred, as indicated by the red circle and a series of aftershock earthquakes that are indicated by the small white circles. The combination of this area, which is highlighted by light blue, is an indication of the area that was actually uplifted during this particularly tsunami causing earthquake. So that we have an idea of the spatial dimensions of the formation of this tsunami. As you can see from this animation, once the tsunami is formed in the Sea of Japan it propagates very quickly to the island of Okushiri. This wave will continue to wrap around the north and south parts of the island at the same time it is hitting the other island of Oshima and notice as the two waves wrap around the back side of the island they combine to reinforce each other to cause wave heights to be unusually large at an unexpected location, at the back side of the island. This is not uncommon, because tsunami waves wrap around objects and intersect the island coastline in a wide variety of ways, but the most important aspect of this is the damage it causes once it gets near the coastline. This animation of run-up depicts the overtopping of the southern tip of Aonae and then, notice how the waves in this animation depict the flooding that takes place along the coast. So now if we look at the entire process from earthquake generation, shaking this Island for about 30 seconds, followed by an attack of 3-4 tsunamis lasting for about an hour that gave rise to fires which burned all night, then we see that the origins of the earthquake is basically within the bowels of the earth and causes massive destruction and kills people. Now that you understand how tsunamis are formed and the potential destruction that they can bring, I would like to share with you a few safety tips of how you can protect yourself in the event of this natural disaster. Safety tip #1 is the earthquake itself. If you feel a shaking of the earth while you are on the coastline, this is nature's warning that a tsunami could have been generated. So you are advised to seek higher ground as quickly as possible. Safety tip #2 is unusual water level changes. Oftentimes tsunamis will, as they are approaching the coastline, the first indication of the tsunamis arrival will be the withdrawal of water, that is the draining away of the ocean away from the coastline. If you see large areas of coastline exposed by this draining of the water, that is a natural warning that a tsunami is arriving. So, as quickly as it drained away, it will comeback with enormous force and a very fast speed which you cannot outrun. So you are advised if you observe this change in sea level to seek higher ground as quickly as possible. Safety tip #3 is the sound of the tsunami. Accounts of massive tsunamis which have created death and destruction here in the last few decades are always accompanied by a load roar. [sound of waves crashing] So if the tsunami occurs in the evening, its dark, you cannot see the ocean, you cannot see the draining of the ocean, and if you hear a load roar from the ocean that too is nature's indication that a tsunami is approaching. So the three tips are: you feel an earthquake, if you see unusual wave, sea level changes on the coastline or hear a load roar from the ocean that's a natural signal a tsunami is approaching. If you heed these signs you can save your life by quickly running to higher ground. [sound of waves crashing]