The latest twist on the story (a good one for the American network news since it involves moderately attractive American English speakers) involves a couple who were S.C.U.B.A. diving something like 7 miles out and “miraculously” survived. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t a tsunami resemble a largish swell at that range from shore? Is it really miraculous, or am I right to think the news outlets are just jerking us around again?
It’s not distance from shore that matters as much as the depth of the water. And 7 miles out from eg the Maldives could put them in true deep water, in which case they wouldn’t notice the tsunami.
Well, yes I follow that. Unfortunately the reports are predictably not mentioning the facts that actually make a difference.
The miracle could be that they decided to swim 7 miles out and not drink pina coladas on the beach. shrug
I saw an interview with a person what was diving at the time of the tsunami (not the American couple) that mentioned that they were ‘buffeted’ and their apparent depth suddenly went from 20 meters to 40 meters as the tsunami passed overhead. That would be a little freaky.
Some of the first reports I heard involved divers in a cave off the coast of Thailand.
As others have said, if you are on the upswell side of coral reef then you might expect to bear the full brunt of a tsunami. If you are 30 feet deep in 60 feet of water you might just get tossed around a bit.
I still get freaked out about the poor saps caught in a cave, though…