Asked by: Kevin Scott, Edinburgh
Definitely not. A tsunami is nothing like a regular wave; it isn’t a surface phenomenon generated by the wind, it is a displacement of the entire water column as a result of an undersea earthquake. A tsunami does not have a clean, surfable face, it is just a roiling mass of white water full of rocks and coral. The wave may be 160km long and the tail end of it will be travelling at 800km/h. This sudden deceleration as this enormous mass of water hits the shore causes the wave to pile up into a surge that may be 30m high and it will kill anyone caught in its path.
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