What Is A Tsunami
What Is A Tsunami
What Is A Tsunami
Tsunami is the Japanese name given to large waves that sometimes devastated the shores and ports of Japan. A tsunami is a wave in the ocean but it is very different to normal waves. Tsunamis have very long wavelengths. Crest to crest they measure between 10 and 500 km and they travel through the ocean at more than 700 km/h. Sometimes there appears to be just one wave but often there are multiple waves travelling a few minutes apart. Wave height [amplitude] may not appear to be great in the open ocean (and often goes unnoticed) but unlike normal waves the tsunami is moving the entire water column, all the way to the sea floor! The water depth therefore has a major influence on the behaviour and appearance of the wave. In addition because of the wavelength, the first sign of the arrival of a tsunami may actually be the sea level falling and bays appearing to empty. In deep open water the wave is almost impossible to see although modern instruments can detect it. However, as the wave approaches shore and the water shallows it slows down. The wave rapidly bunches up as the faster rear sections catch up with the slower front sections resulting in the wave growing in height the closer it gets to shore. This effect is enhanced if the near-shore sea bed provides a long gradual shallowing. Many tsunamis are barely distinguishable from normal sea waves but some turn into monsters rising 30 metres above the shore line! The damage along a shore line may vary because of the influence the local shape of the sea floor has on wave behaviour. Bays and harbours that are funnel shaped also suffer more from a tsunami because they concentrate the effects. Damage in these areas is further increased by the sloshing backwards and forwards of the water, just like in a bathtub!
Unfortunately tsunamis have been given numerous names in the past that are misleading. Even the word tsunami meaning harbour wave is misleading! All tsunami are caused by the sudden displacement of large volumes of water. All are the result of violent events with enough power to displace large volumes very rapidly. However, tsunami may be caused by events that are not local to the tsunami site. Because the waves have been generated by huge releases of energy and they travel so effectively
through the deep ocean some tsunami are caused by events that literally happen on the other side of the world. The usual causes of a tsunami are: an earthquake - most tsunamis are caused by submarine earthquakes but not all submarine earthquakes cause tsunamis. Movement on the fault must have a vertical component that generates sufficient displacement to set a tsunami running a landslide - underwater landslides or coastal landslides that fall into the ocean can displace enough water to create a tsunami. Sometimes the landslides are caused by earthquakes. a volcanic eruption or explosion - submarine explosions, caldera collapse and massive pyroclastic flows can all cause sufficient displacement of water to generate a tsunami. impact by a meteorite - large meteorites have a high probability of landing in the ocean and causing a tsunami given that about two thirds of the surface of the Earth is covered by water
Tsunami scenarios
1. In November 2004 a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred 10km below the surface south west of West Cape on the South Island of New Zealand. Tsunamis were not reported for New Zealand or Australia. Did this earthquake cause a large vertical displacement on the sea floor? Explain your answer. 2. If an earthquake just off shore of West Cape on the South Island of New Zealand were to generate a tsunami it would impact on both New Zealand and Australia. Using a map of the region and assuming a travel time of 950 km/hour how long would the tsunami take to arrive at Hobart? How long would it take the same wave to reach Sydney? 3. Examine a map of New Zealand. Would residents of the coastal city of Christchurch, New Zealand, be affected by this tsunami?. Explain your reasoning. 4. Examine a map of Victoria. Assuming this tsunami has the potential to have a run up height of 20 metres, would residents of coastal villages east of Wilsons Promontory be affected by this tsunami? Explain your reasoning? 5. Examine the map below. Tsunamis are known to be caused by earthquakes and other events off shore of Chile and elsewhere around the pacific. Is the east coast of Australia threatened by tsunamis generated off shore of Chile? Explain your answer. 6. If the Big Island of Hawaii has 15 hours to prepare for a tsunami to arrive from Chile how fast is it travelling? 7. Is Sydney safe from Hawaiian tsunamis? Explain your answer.
Question: How Are Tsunamis Detected? Answer: To help identify and predict the size of a tsunami, scientists can look at the size and type of the underwater earthquake that precedes it. That is often the first information they receive, because seismic waves travel faster than tsunamis. This information is not always helpful, however, because a tsunami can arrive within minutes after the earthquake that triggered it. And not all earthquakes create tsunamis, so false alarms can and do happen. Thats where special open-ocean tsunami buoys and coastal tide gauges can helpby sending real-time information to tsunami warning centers in Alaska and Hawaii. In areas where tsunamis are likely to occur, community managers, educators and citizens are being trained to provide eye-witness information that is expected to aid in the prediction and detection of tsunamis. In the United States, NOAA has primary responsibility for reporting tsunamis and has created a Center for Tsunami Research. Following the Sumatra Tsunami in 2004, NOAA stepped-up its efforts to detect and report tsunamis by:
Developing tsunami models for at-risk communities Staffing NOAA warning centers around the clock Expanding the warning coverage area Deploying Deep-ocean Assessment and Report of Tsunamis (DART) buoy stations
Installing sea level gauges Offering expanded community education through the TsunamiReady program
To see where tsunamis have been reported, check NOAAs Interactive Map of Historical Tsunami Events.
Mitigation
See also: Tsunami barrier In some tsunami-prone countries earthquake engineering measures have been taken to reduce the damage caused onshore. Japan, where tsunami science and response measures first began following a disaster in 1896, has produced ever-more elaborate countermeasures and response plans.[33] That country has built many tsunami walls of up to 4.5 metres (15 ft) to protect populated coastal areas. Other localities have built floodgates and channels to redirect the water from incoming tsunami. However, their effectiveness has been questioned, as tsunami often overtop the barriers. For instance, the Okushiri, Hokkaid tsunami which struck Okushiri Island of Hokkaid within two to five minutes of the earthquake on July 12, 1993 created waves as much as 30 metres (100 ft) tallas high as a 10-story building. The port town of Aonae was completely surrounded by a tsunami wall, but the waves washed right over the wall and destroyed all the wood-framed structures in the area. The wall may have succeeded in slowing down and moderating the height of the tsunami, but it did not prevent major destruction and loss of life.[34]
As a weapon
There have been studies and at least one attempt to create tsunami waves as a weapon. In World War II, the New Zealand Military Forces initiated Project Seal, which attempted to create small tsunamis with explosives in the area of today's Shakespear Regional Park; the attempt failed.[
Characteristics
When the wave enters shallow water, it slows down and its amplitude (height) increases.
The wave further slows and amplifies as it hits land. Only the largest waves crest. Tsunamis cause damage by two mechanisms: the smashing force of a wall of water travelling at high speed, and the destructive power of a large volume of water draining off the land and carrying all with it, even if the wave did not look large. While everyday wind waves have a wavelength (from crest to crest) of about 100 metres (330 ft) and a height of roughly 2 metres (6.6 ft), a tsunami in the deep ocean has a wavelength of about 200 kilometres (120 mi). Such a wave travels at well over 800 kilometres per hour (500 mph), but owing to the enormous wavelength the wave oscillation at any given point takes 20 or 30 minutes to complete a cycle and has an amplitude of only about 1 metre (3.3 ft).[22] This makes tsunamis difficult to detect over deep water. Ships rarely notice their passage. As the tsunami approaches the coast and the waters become shallow, wave shoaling compresses the wave and its velocity slows below 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). Its wavelength diminishes to less than 20 kilometres (12 mi) and its amplitude grows enormously. Since the wave still has the same very long period, the tsunami may take minutes to reach full height. Except for the very largest tsunamis, the approaching wave does not break, but rather appears like a fast-moving tidal bore.[23] Open bays and coastlines adjacent to very deep water may shape the tsunami further into a step-like wave with a steep-breaking front. When the tsunami's wave peak reaches the shore, the resulting temporary rise in sea level is termed run up. Run up is measured in metres above a reference sea level.[23] A large tsunami may feature multiple waves arriving over a period of hours, with significant time between the wave crests. The first wave to reach the shore may not have the highest run up.[24]
About 80% of tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean, but they are possible wherever there are large bodies of water, including lakes. They are caused by earthquakes, landslides, volcanic explosions glacier calvings, and bolides.
Death
There is very little warning before Tsunamis hit. This means that people living in towns and villages on the coast do not have time to escape. Unfortunately one of the biggests and worst effects of a Tsunami is the cost to human life. Hundreds and thousands of people are killed by Tsunamis. The force of the tsunami wave may kill people instantly or they may drown as water rushes on the land.
People may also be killed if a building is knocked down by the tsunami and it hits them. They could also be electrocuted if wires fall down into the water or they may be killed by fires or explosions. The tsunami that struck South Asia and East African on Decmber 24 2004 killed a staggering 31,187 people in Sri Lanka. There were 4,280 missing people and a further 23,189 were injured.
Disease
Tsunamis flood the areas close to the coast. This can cause disease to spread in the stagnant water. Illnesses such as malaria form when water is stagnant and contaminated. This can cause more deeath and sickness. Often the infastructure such as sewage and fresh water supplies for drinking are damaged from the tsunami. This makes it more difficult for people to stay healthy and for diseases to be treated. In these conditions for diseases are likely to spread.
What causes a Tsunami?
Panic: People flee as a Tsunami wave crashes into trees in Indonesia on Boxing Day,
December 26, 2004 Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning ''harbour wave'' that refers to a series of large ocean waves that hit...
Cost
There is immediately a massive cost when tsunamis happen. Rescue teams come in to the area and victims of the tsunami needed to be treated. Governments around the world may help with the cost of bringing aid to a tsunami hit area. There might also be appeals and donations from people who have seen pictures of the area in the media. After the initial cost of rescue operations there is the clean up cost. Debris from the destruction caused by the tsunami needs to be cleaned away. Damaged buildings that are no longer structurally safe may need to be knocked down. There is also the cost that comes from loss of earnings in the local economy and also future losses as the area will be damaged for some time. The total financial cost of the tsunami could be millions or even billions of dollars. It is difficult to put an excat figure on the monetary cost but is a lot.
Psychological effects
Tsunami victims suffer psychology problems in the days and weeks after the destruction. This could even continue for years - often there entire life time. A study by the World Health Organisation on survivors of the tsunami in Sri Lanka on December 24 2004 found that three to four weeks after the tsunami between 14 and 39 per cent of the children had post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In another study 41 per cent of adolescents and approximately 20 per cent of those adolescents' mothers had PTSD four months after the event. Many people from the Peraliya area of Sri Lanka where 2,000 people died and 450 families became homeless had problems up to two years after the tsunami. They were anxious and stressed because they felt like their life was in danger from another tsunami. They were also suffering from grief because they knew somebody who had died. There were also people who were depressed because they had lost their home, their money or their business in the tsunami. Many still had PTSD.
Tsunami news
Warner decides not to start 'football tsunami' - Stabroek News
Telegraph.co.uk Warner decides not to start 'football tsunami' Stabroek News Warner had promised a football tsunami would follow his suspension by FIFA's Ethics committee last week... - 109 minutes ago
Warner backs down over 'tsunami' claim - ESPN
Warner backs down over 'tsunami' claim ESPN Andy Brassell watched as Paulo Bento's Portugal continued their resurgence with a win over Norway. Read Off The Ball finds the FA Cup... - 3 hours ago
'Deadliest Catch' stars host fundraiser for Japan tsunami relief - Hawaii News Now
'Deadliest Catch' stars host fundraiser for Japan tsunami relief Hawaii News Now HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Fishermen around the world felt sadness for the fishing villages in Japan that...
Before 1000 AD
[edit] 6100 BC: Norwegian Sea
Main article: Storegga Slide The Storegga Slides occurred 100 km north-west of the Mre coast in the Norwegian Sea, causing a very large tsunami in the North Atlantic Ocean. This collapse involved an estimated 290 km length of coastal shelf, with a total volume of 3,500 km3 of debris.[4] Based on carbon dating of plant material recovered from sediment deposited by the tsunami, the latest incident occurred around 6100 BC.[5] In Scotland, traces of the subsequent tsunami have been recorded, with deposited sediment being discovered in Montrose Basin, the Firth of Forth, up to 80 km inland and 4 metres above current normal tide levels.
An earthquake and a tsunami destroyed the prosperous Greek city Helike, lying 2 km away from the sea. The fate of the city, which remained permanently submerged, was often commented upon by ancient writers[8] and may have inspired the contemporary Plato to the myth of Atlantis.
a similar scale - and could happen every 800 years or so. It is unsure whether "one of the contiguous patches might slip in the future."[12]
[edit] 10001700
[edit] 1293: Kamakura, Japan ()
Magnitude 7.1 Quake and tsunami hit Kamakura, Japan's de facto capital, killing 23,000 after resulting fires.
[edit] 1700s
[edit] 1700: Vancouver Island, Canada
Main article: 1700 Cascadia earthquake On January 26, 1700, the Cascadia earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes on record (estimated MW 9 magnitude), ruptured the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) offshore from Vancouver Island to northern California, and caused a massive tsunami across the Pacific Northwest logged in Japan and oral traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. [20]
The earthquake, tsunami, and many fires killed between 60,000 and 100,000 in Lisbon alone, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators were lost, and countless buildings were destroyed (including most examples of Portugal's Manueline architecture). Europeans of the 18th century struggled to understand the disaster within religious and rational belief systems. Philosophers of the Enlightenment, notably Voltaire, wrote about the event. The philosophical concept of the sublime, as described by philosopher Immanuel Kant in the Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime, took inspiration in part from attempts to comprehend the enormity of the Lisbon quake and tsunami. The tsunami took just over 4 hours to travel over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to Cornwall in the United Kingdom. An account by Arnold Boscowitz claimed "great loss of life." It also hit Galway in Ireland, and caused some serious damage to the Spanish Arch section of the city wall.
bouncing back and hitting Shimabara again. Out of an estimated total of 15,000 fatalities, around 5,000 is thought to have been killed by the landslide, around 5,000 by the tsunami across the bay in Higo Province, and a further 5,000 by the tsunami returning to strike Shimabara. The waves reached a height of 330 ft (100 m), classing this tsunami as a small megatsunami.
[edit] 1800s
[edit] 1833: Sumatra, Indonesia
Main article: 1833 Sumatra earthquake On 25 November 1833, a massive earthquake estimated to have been between 8.8-9.2 on the moment magnitude scale, struck Sumatra in Indonesia. The coast of Sumatra near the quake's epicentre was hardest hit by the resulting tsunami.
The first on Nov 4, 1854 near what is today Aichi Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture with tsunami. It was followed by another 8.4 the next day in Wakayama Prefecture, Earthquake generated a maximum wave of 28 meters at Kochi, Japan, and the earthquake that tsunami killed 3,000 people. The tsunami washed 15,000 homes away. The number of homes destroyed directly by the earthquake was 2,598; 1,443 people died.[13] The third was a 7.4 quake on Nov 7, 1854 in Ehime Prefecture and Oita Prefecture.
On April 2, 1868, a local earthquake with a magnitude estimated between 7.5 and 8.0 rocked the southeast coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. It triggered a landslide on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano, five miles (8 km) north of Pahala, killing 31 people. A tsunami then claimed 46 additional lives. The villages of Punaluu, Ninole, Kawaa, Honuapo, and Keauhou Landing were severely damaged and the village of pua was destroyed. According to one account, the tsunami "rolled in over the tops of the coconut trees, probably 60 feet high .... inland a distance of a quarter of a mile in some places, taking out to sea when it returned, houses, men, women, and almost everything movable." This was reported in the 1988 edition of Walter C. Dudley's book "Tsunami!" (ISBN 0-8248-1125-9).
[edit] 19001950
The aftermath of the tsunami that struck Messina in 1908. The 1908 Messina earthquake in Italy, triggered a large tsunami that took more than 70,000 lives.
The aftermath of the tsunami that struck Newfoundland in 1929. On November 18, 1929, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 occurred beneath the Laurentian Slope on the Grand Banks. The quake was felt throughout the Atlantic Provinces of Canada and as far west as Ottawa and as far south as Claymont, Delaware. The resulting tsunami measured over 7 meters in height and took about 2 hours to reach the Burin
Peninsula on the south coast of Newfoundland, where 28 people lost their lives in various communities. It also snapped telegraph lines laid under the Atlantic.
Residents run from an approaching tsunami in Hilo, Hawaii. On April 1, 1946, the Aleutian Islands tsunami killed 159 people on Hawaii and five in Alaska (the lighthouse keepers at the Scotch Cap Light in the Aleutians). It resulted in the creation of a tsunami warning system known as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), established in 1949 for Oceania countries. The tsunami is known as the April Fools Day Tsunami in Hawaii due to people thinking the warnings were an April Fools prank.
[edit] 19502000
[edit] 1952: Severo-Kurilsk, Kuril Islands, USSR
Main article: 1952 Severo-Kurilsk tsunami The November 5, 1952 tsunami killed 2,336 on the Kuril Islands, USSR.
South Central Chile. The highest wave at Hilo Bay was measured at around 10.7 m (35 ft). 61 lives were lost allegedly due to people's failure to heed warning sirens. Almost 22 hours after the quake, the waves hit the ill-fated Sanriku coast of Japan, reaching up to 3 m above high tide, and killed 142 people. Up to 6,000 people died in total worldwide due to the earthquake and tsunami.[27]
The Vajont Dam as seen from Longarone today, showing approximately the top 60-70 metres of concrete. The 200-250 metre wall of water (megatsunami) that over-topped the dam would have obscured virtually all of the sky in this picture. The Vajont Dam was completed in 1961 under Monte Toc, 100 km north of Venice, Italy. At 262 metres, it was one of the highest dams in the world. On October 9, 1963 an enormous landslide of about 260 million cubic metres of forest, earth, and rock, fell into the reservoir at up to 110 km per hour (68 mph). The resulting displacement of water caused 50 million cubic metres of water to overtop the dam in a 250-metre high megatsunami wave. The flooding destroyed the villages of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Fa, killing 1,450 people. Almost 2,000 people (some sources report 1,909) perished in total.
the 107 fatalities, all but four were killed by the resulting tsunami, which struck communities along the coast, especially Aomori and Akita Prefectures and the east coast of Noto Peninsula. Footage of the tsunami hitting the fishing harbor of Wajima on Noto Peninsula was broadcast on TV. The waves exceeded 10 meters in some areas. Three of the fatalities were along the east coast of South Korea (whether North Korea was affected is not known). The tsunami also hit Okushiri Island, the site of a more deadly tsunami 10 years later. ja:
[edit] 2000s
[edit] 2004: Indian Ocean
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; Tsunami strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which had a moment magnitude of 9.19.3,[30] triggered a series of lethal tsunamis on December 26, 2004, that killed approximately 230,210 people (including 168,000 in Indonesia alone), making it the deadliest tsunami as well as one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. It was also caused by the third largest earthquake in recorded history. The initial surge was measured at a height of approximately 33 meters (108 ft), making it the largest earthquake-generated tsunami in recorded history. The tsunami killed people over an area ranging from the immediate vicinity of the quake in Indonesia, Thailand, and the north-western coast of Malaysia, to thousands of kilometres away in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and even as far away as Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania in eastern Africa. This transIndian Ocean tsunami is an example of a teletsunami, which can travel vast distances across the open ocean. In this case, it is an ocean-wide tsunami. Unlike in the Pacific Ocean, there was no organized alert service covering the Indian Ocean. This was in part due to the absence of major tsunami events since 1883 (the Krakatoa eruption, which killed 36,000 people). In light of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, UNESCO and other world bodies have called for an international tsunami monitoring system.
On 15 November 2006, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurred off the coast near the Kuril Islands. In spite of the quake's large 8.3 magnitude, a relatively small tsunami was generated. The small tsunami was recorded or observed in Japan and at distant locations throughout the Pacific.
Destruction provoked by the 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami, in Pichilemu, O'Higgins Region, Chile. Main article: 2010 Chile earthquake The seismic event in the southern Pacific produced waves measuring 1.89 meters along the Sanriku Coastline of northeastern Honshu in Japan.[clarification needed][32]
The tallest tsunami ever recorded so far is the 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami, which had a record height of 524 m (1742 ft). The only other recent megatsunamis are the 1980 Spirit Lake megatsunami, which measured 260 m (780 ft) tall and the 1963 Vajont Dam megatsunami which had an initial height of 250 m (750 ft)
[edit] Deadliest
The deadliest tsunami in recorded history was the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed almost 230,000 people in eleven countries across the Indian Ocean.
ca. 500 BC: Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu, India, Maldives 1541: a tsunami struck the earliest European settlement in Brazil, So Vicente. There is no record of deaths or injuries, but the town was almost completely destroyed. Tsunamis in South Asia
Source: Amateur Seismic Centre, India[38]
Location 1524 Near Dabhol, Maharashtra 2 April 1762 Arakan Coast, Myanmar 16 June 1819 Rann of Kachchh, Gujarat, India 31 October 1847 Great Nicobar Island, India 31 December 1881 Car Nicobar Island, India 26 August 1883 Krakatoa, Sunda Strait, Indonesia 28 November 1945 Mekran coast, Balochistan
Date
Diminished domestic water supply due to contamination of shallow wells and aquifers (with salt water and other toxic substances); Disease outbreaks; Interruption of business and economic processes; and Disruption of education and social services. It can take many years for communities to recover from the effects of tsunamis, rebuild homes and physical infrastructure, and regain economic stability. Oftentimes disasters and subsequent recovery processes reveal complex inter-relationships and dependencies. For example, seawater over inland areas due to a tsunami increases salinity of soils and can render land unsuitable for cultivation. If arable land is reduced, food supply is diminished and farmers must seek other employment, which dramatically affects their livelihoods. Tsunami risks can be mitigated through many of the same actions that minimize the effects of other coastal hazards such as flooding, storm surge and high surf. By no means an exhaustive list of all possible mitigation strategies, those outlined here serve as a starting point for consideration. Additionally, because the Tsunami Awareness Kit was developed specifically for the Pacific Islands, this document presents a number of strategies unique to the island environments.
Prepared by the Pacific Disaster Center. 2005. 1
damage caused to a government communications station at Torokima, on the west coast of Bougainville by a 2 metre tsunami following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in the east Solomon Sea on 20 July, 1975 (Everingham, et al, 1977). The International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST) deployed after the 1998 Aitape, Papua New Guinea tsunami recommended the following land use considerations: Residents should not be relocated in locales fronted by water and backed by rivers or lagoons; and Schools, churches, and other critical facilities should never be located closer than 400m from the coastline, and preferably 800m in at-risk areas.
Vertical evacuation is a consideration for near-source tsunamis, where time is a limiting factor, or in densely populated areas, where time or horizontal evacuation is not feasible. While it is recognized that most buildings cannot withstand extreme tsunami loads, multistory buildings of reinforced concrete and structural steel that are built to withstand local seismic forces and/or extreme wind conditions with limited structural damage, may offer protection from smaller tsunami waves. Research (Pacheco, et al. 2005) is underway to validate design considerations for buildings within inundation areas that: Allow flow of water through the ground floor; Allow non-structural elements at lower levels to break away; and Position bearing or structural walls perpendicular to water flow.
Prepared by the Pacific Disaster Center. 2005. 3
Hydrostatic forces (pressure on walls caused by variations in water depth on opposite sides). Elevate buildings above flood level. Anchor buildings to foundations. Provide adequate openings to allow water to reach equal heights inside and outside of buildings. Design for static water pressure on walls. Buoyancy (flotation or uplift forces caused by buoyancy). Elevate buildings Anchor buildings to foundations. Saturation of soil causing slope instability and/or loss of bearing capacity. Evaluate bearing capacity and shear strength of soils that support building foundations and embankment slopes under conditions of saturation. Avoid slopes or provide setback from slopes that may be destabilized when inundated. Currents Hydrodynamic forces (pushing forces caused by the leading edge of the wave on the building and the drag caused by flow around the building and overturning forces that result). Elevate buildings. Design for dynamic water forces on walls and building elements. Anchor building to foundations. Debris impact Elevate buildings. Design for impact loads. Scour Use deep piles or piers. Protect against scour around foundations. Wave break and bore Hydrodynamic forces Design for breaking wave forces. Debris Impact Elevate buildings. Design for impact loads. Prepared by the Pacific Disaster Center. 2005. 4
Phenomenon Effect Design Solution Scour Design for scour and erosion of the soil around foundations and piers. Drawdown Embankment instability Design waterfront walls and bulkheads to resist saturated soils without water in front. Provide adequate drainage. Scour Design for scour and erosion of the soil around foundations and piers. Fire Waterborne flammable materials and ignition sources in buildings. Use fire-resistant materials. Locate flammable material storage outside of high-hazard areas.
Leave-behind materials such as brochures and preparedness guidelines that encourage people to seek additional information and take action to safeguard their homes and communities.
Tsunamis generated from distant sources allow greater warning time, provided there are systems and procedures in place that allow for receipt of warning messages, analysis of the information, and notification mechanisms established to warn communities. Numerous resources in the Tsunami Awareness Kit discuss new and existing systems and technologies for tsunami detection and warning. Guidance documents for development of emergency plans and procedures are also included. See Resources for Disaster Managers: Tsunami Detection and Warning Systems, and Emergency Planning and Procedures. To find out more information about the NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, visit: http://www.weather.gov/ptwc/ In the aftermath of the 26 December 2004 tsunami international agreements were forged to improve tsunami detection and warning. With collaboration and foresight, warning systems that engage communities as active participants, employ sound scientific and technical monitoring and expertise, disseminate timely and understandable warnings, and integrate other hazards where appropriate, will result. __________________
References Davies, Hugh. Tsunami PNG 1998 Extracts from Earth Talk. University of Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, (revised 1999). Everingham, Ian B. Preliminary Catalogue of Tsunamis for the New Guinea/Solomon Islands Region, 1768-1972. Australia Bureau of Mineral Resources Report 180 (1977). Everingham, Ian B. Tsunamis in Papua New Guinea. Science in New Guinea (1976). National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program report: Designing for Tsunamis. (2001). Pacheco, K., Robertson, I., and Yeh, H. Engineering Structural Response to Tsunami Loading: The Rationale for Vertical Evacuation. University of Hawaii at Manoa. Oregon State University. March, 2005. Ripper, I.D. Seismicity and Tsunami Warning in Papua New Guinea. Department of Minerals and Energy, Geological Survey of Papua New Guinea Report 79/19 (1980).