In Tsunami, Richard Hamblyn explores these treacherous, remorseless sea surges: how they happen, what makes them so powerful and what can be done to safeguard our most vulnerable coastlines. Detailing their cultural significance in tsunami-prone places such as Japan, Hawaii and Chile, the book also considers what tsunamis mean in the more seismically stable West, where the waves reign in popular culture and blockbuster movies but are rarely, if ever, experienced first-hand. From the legend of Atlantis to the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, this book is a cultural, historical and scientific guide to one of the world's most spectacular and deadly natural phenomena.