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SE Asia 2004 (part IV)

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 19:12:23

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the horizontal flow.

I practically observed it at the Baja California. A very large Pacific waves were really harmless near the deep vertical walls of "Land's End" See: http://www.foldabikes.com/CurrentEvents/Story/CA.html

When tsunami reaches the shallow water or low laying shore, then huge volume of water equal (h/2 x L/2)/2 x W starts to flow on affected area. Where W is the length of affected area.

From this consideration it is became clear that the wall diving is harmless for diver. Shore diving is most dangerous. Generally, the deeper diver is - the safer he or she will be.

Below is an exert from the report on tsunami diving at Sirin Islands. It is near Similan Islands, where I dive.

"The morning of the 26th we were on a dive and at about 30 feet deep when a strong current appeared. Sherry was about ten feet from me and I was suddenly spun around and was beginning to be sucked down. Sherry was being pulled up and we were able to get together just as the current became very strong and the sand created a white out. I would guess we were traveling about 20 mph at zero visibility. We kept an eye on our depth gage and were able to maintain our depth at about 30 feet. We surfaced after about ten minutes and found ourselves in very angry water that was boiling and whirl pooling. We were fairly close to shore, but decided to kick away so the boat could see us and could pick us up. After about ten minutes the boat found us and picked us up. We were diving with nine other people and were all spread out over about a mile. Everyone surfaced and everyone was okay. The captain said the water rose about 30 feet instantly.
We spent the next two night floating at sea before it was safe for us to come ashore.

On the trip in, the reality of what had happened would set in. We saw numerous bodies floating and the Navy was out trying to pick them all up. Upon reaching the marina, we saw the total destruction of the tsunami. All the buildings had been completely destroyed and we passed many trucks full of bodies on the way back to our resort."

Full text is published at: http://www.scubaaddict.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=45

Attachments:

1. Letter from Olga P.

Hello Alex,

I've just read your last travel message, and one question came into my brain. I do understand the question is a sort of silly and cynical, but... anyway. Did divers have more possibilities to survive during tsunami than others? I mean, if they had been under the water when the disaster happened, and they had have a plenty of air... I suppose you understand my question.

And the same concerns diving ships in the open ocean. I remember, ancient Japanese would always went into open sea to avoid the tsunami, because the wave is not so dangerous for ships.

Well, I could try to find the answers by my own. I assume there are a lot of very detailed pieces of information on the Internet, on TV, on radio channels, or somewhere else. But I ask you. I just cannot find it by myself.

To be honest, I (and a lot of other Russians) are really full up with terrible news that went up in our society during the last year. And we just cannot receive it anymore, it seems impossible for human beings. Yes, I know, we must, because nothing are going to change if we live without the knowledge. But let us take a short break for a while, just a short break...

Apparently, the break has been over, that is why I ask you.

Thanks a lot.

P.S. Sorry for writing in English, I just suddenly forgot I can use Russian.

Schastlivo! Olga

Alex Mumzhiu
Washington USA
Jan 12 2005