Scuba diving is a globally enjoyed leisure activity where divers dive deep below the surface of the water to explore a beautiful aquatic world. What is normally a low-risk sport can turn into a nightmare during a water catastrophe such as a tsunami, possibly making it a fight for your life.
Scuba diving is a relatively safe activity pursued by many throughout the world, but can you survive in a catastrophic situation such as a tsunami? Many divers have found themselves in similar situations and faced life-threatening events such as getting sucked by strong currents, getting bashed around into underwater structures and some even getting dragged back towards the shore.
This is a short summary of what one might experience underwater during a tsunami. To learn about the risks in greater detail, continue reading this article.
What Is A Tsunami?
To be able to fully map out the risks and precautions you can take during a tsunami, you must first be aware of what a tsunami event is. A tsunami is a series of waves, usually in the ocean, caused by a large displacement of water due to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or underwater landslides.
These waves have wavelengths of up to 200km and, although initially not that high, can gain up to 30m in height by the time they reach the shore.
What Are The Signs Of A Tsunami?
The most common warning of a tsunami is the drawback. Where water draws back from the shore and into the ocean, resulting in lowered water levels and in some extreme cases, a visible sea bed. The latter is widely known as the 5 minute warning. Other warnings can include advanced systems in the ocean that can detect change in pressure of the waves and can detect seismic activity.
Scientists and meteorologists can use this data and predict whether it will result in a tsunami or not. This can alert authorities and people near the shore or in the water of a possible disaster before it takes place.
Can You Scuba Dive During A Tsunami?
While you may already happen to be in a dive when a tsunami takes place, it is almost impossible for you to initiate your dive once a tsunami is taking place. Those that are already under water may experience certain life threatening events in that scenario.
To learn more about this, watch a video of divers that experienced this first hand,
Deeper Currents Can Pull You Around
While some say that divers that are deep into the ocean might not feel anything at all, there have been some cases of divers being deep but still feeling strong currents. These are also called washing machine currents which can pull you both higher or deeper into the ocean. With some recorded instances of these currents having pulled divers up to a 100ft deep.
Both of these cases can result in decompression sickness which is a serious health risk that can cause air bubbles to form in your blood due to rapid changes in pressure.
Fast Currents Can Cause Separation
If you are diving with multiple people, it is essential to remain close and in constant communication with your group. This ensures safety and allows for easier navigation of the waters.
Fast currents caused by a tsunami can disrupt communication equipment and the rapid pulling of currents can separate divers from their group, leaving them disoriented and stranded in unknown areas.
You Can Crash Into Underwater Surfaces
Another huge risk that comes with fast currents is drifting and hitting into underwater surfaces such as corals, large rocks and underwater caves. This uncontrolled movement can cause serious damage to your scuba equipment. It can result in punctured gas tanks, disconnected breathing tubes, shattered face masks and even damaged communication equipment.
This vigorous tumbling can cause physical damage to the divers as well. They can get cut, experience blunt trauma, bruises and maybe even broken bones. This may hinder the ability to continue diving and may also cause long term health issues.
You Can Collide With The Shore
Divers diving near the shore can get dragged along by shallower currents towards the shore line. Large tsunami waves can travel at high speeds of around 500-600km/h and a collision at that speed with hard ground will most likely be lethal.
This shows how divers in shallower waters may be at a greater risk than those in deeper ones.
Preparation And Awareness Can Save Your Life
The best safety precautions when it comes to responsible scuba diving is perhaps preparation and awareness. Always check weather forecasts and possible tsunami alerts before diving. Being aware about a predicted catastrophe can help you avoid it.
If for some reason you find yourself unexpectedly in the middle of one, then trying to remain calm and not panicking is your best strategy.
You Can Hold Onto Anchor Points
A reliable way to quickly get a hold of yourself during powerful currents is to grab onto strong rocks as anchor points.
Doing so can help you survive any rough currents until the waves calm down giving you enough time to plan your next move in getting to safety.
You Should Try To Reach The Surface Of The Water
Another way of ensuring safety if you are in deep waters, can be swimming towards the surface. The surface is proven to be more stable than the currents below, putting you in a relatively safer position.
Once you have borne the brunt of it, you can recollect yourself and contact your team or rescuers immediately.
The Bottom Line
While you may be able to survive a mild tsunami during your dive, it is still an incredibly dangerous scenario..
From getting knocked around by circular currents to being pulled to greater depths, you will constantly be at risk of suffering various minor or major injuries, which may turn fatal in extreme cases.
Taking the above mentioned precautions and being well researched about your diving spot can be the difference between life or death.
