[Dogrobber]

Note to self: if you're ever walking on the beach and the tide suddenly sucks out hundreds of yards, don't stand there marveling at it. Turn and run like the Lords of Hell are at your heels.

Normal running just won't cut it.

[redgolum]

In historic times, this happened in places like Alexandria. The sea would rush out and people would stand and marvel at it.

A movie that shows this rather well was Deep Impact.

Prayers to all those in Asia.

[Strategerist]

Normal running just won't cut it.

Actually normal running will do just fine in almost all cases.

If you start running...or even just walking fast...as soon as you see the sea recede you have about 5-10 minutes before the wave hits. In most parts of the world that will put you either high enough or inland enough to avoid the tsunami.

[Ciexyz]

Normal running just won't cut it.

That's what the people in the reports were saying, the wall of water came in so fast that they couldn't outrun it.

I remember reading reports about other tsunamis in history, they all said the same thing.