What is a tsunami?  The Japanese word tsunami (pronounced soo-
NAH-mee) means “harbor wave.” It is a huge volume of moving
seawater kind of like a giant wave that can travel for thousands
of miles across the sea and then approach the shoreline with the
strength to destroy buildings, trees, wildlife, and people.
Tsunamis can be triggered by an undersea earthquake, landslide,
or volcanic eruption. The most frequent tsunami-maker is an
undersea earthquake, which buckles the seafloor and displaces
large volumes of seawater, creating a tsunami. This unique ocean
event is not related to tides, although it is sometimes
mistakenly called a tidal wave.