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It's probably a question too general for this forum, but I'm not sure.

The other day, I was in the beach, near the sea, and a big wave came towards me. So, instead of running from the wave, I decided to dive into the wave and come out on the other side.

Would it be possible to do this in case of a tsunami? How does the water inside of a tsunami flows?

Qmechanic
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An old man in the sea.
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2 Answers2

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No. Multiple reasons:

  1. The "other side" is far away.

Tsunami waves are extremely broad. You would need to swim several km, or wait underwater several minutes.

  1. The currents are too strong.

In a water wave, the highest currents are near the surface. The current speeds drop to less than 5% at a depth equal to half the wavelength

Due to their sheer broadness, tsunami waves require all the water below then to move at roughly the same speed. For breaking tsunami near the beach, this means around 30kmh

Abdullah is not an Amalekite
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The problem with surviving a tsunami is not the water. It's the stuff in it. Once it has made contact with land, your average tsunami wave will contain cars, tree trunks, shipping containers, houses ground into pieces, rocks, trucks, mud, and all sorts of stuff.

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Here's an example video of a small flash flood. If you look at it, that's the kind of "fluid" I'm talking about. It does move like a fluid, but it's basically a grinder. Anyone attempting to swim in there would be bashed by heavy objects, then ground into a pulp, and buried under tons of mud.

bobflux
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