The 3 June 1994 Java Tsunami: A Post-Event Survey of the Coastal Effects

The paper is a report of the field campaign undertaken by an international team (Italian, French and Indonesian) a few weeks after the occurrence of a tsunami invading the south-eastern coast of Java (Indonesia) and it complements the results of a concurrent field survey by Asian and USA researchers. The tsunamigenic earthquake occurred on 3 of June 1994 in the Indian Ocean about 200 km south of Java. The tsunami caused severe damage and claimed many victims in some coastal villages. The main purpose of the survey was to measure the inundation and the runup values as well as to ascertain the possible morphological changes caused by the wave attacks. Attention was particularly focussed on the most affected districts, that is Lumajang, Jember and Banyuwangi in Java, although also the districts of Negera, Tebanan and Denpasar in Bali were examined. The most severe damage was observed in the Banyuwangi district, where the villages of Rajekwesi, Pancer and Lampon were almost completely levelled by the violent waves. Most places were hit by three significant waves with documented wave height often exceeding 5 m. The maximum runup value (9.50 m) was measured at Rajekwesi, where also the most impressive erosion phenomena could be found. In contrast, only in one place of the neighbouring island of Bali was there a slight tsunami, the rest of the island being practically unaffected.     

The Seismic Project of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program

In 1997, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the five western States of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington joined in a partnership called the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) to enhance the quality and quantity of seismic data provided to the NOAA tsunami warning centers in Alaska and Hawaii. The NTHMP funded a seismic project that now provides the warning centers with real-time seismic data over dedicated communication links and the Internet from regional seismic networks monitoring earthquakes in the five western states, the U.S. National Seismic Network in Colorado, and from domestic and global seismic stations operated by other agencies. The goal of the project is to reduce the time needed to issue a tsunami warning by providing the warning centers with high-dynamic range, broadband waveforms in near real time. An additional goal is to reduce the likelihood of issuing false tsunami warnings by rapidly providing to the warning centers parametric information on earthquakes that could indicate their tsunamigenic potential, such as hypocenters, magnitudes, moment tensors, and shake distribution maps. New or upgraded field instrumentation was installed over a 5-year period at 53 seismic stations in the five western states. Data from these instruments has been integrated into the seismic network utilizing Earthworm software. This network has significantly reduced the time needed to respond to teleseismic and regional earthquakes. Notably, the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center responded to the 28 February 2001 Mw 6.8 Nisqually earthquake beneath Olympia, Washington within 2 minutes compared to an average response time of over 10 minutes for the previous 18 years.     

试用地球系统科学观解读2004年印度洋地震海啸

2004年印度洋地震海啸是本世纪初全球发生的最为惨重的自然灾害.这次地震海啸涉及地球的岩石圈、水圈、大气圈和生物圈,甚至还有地外星球和月球的作用,造成能量与物质之间的相互转化与传递,说明地球是一个完整的统一整体.因此,对地震海啸等自然灾害必须采用地球系统科学观进行分析和研究,找出彼此之间的相互关系、形成机制和演化规律,并用信息化、全球化和可持续发展的地球科学观来研究和防御地震海啸.     

Estimation of Tsunami Risk for the Coasts of Peru and Northern Chile

Data for tsunamigenic earthquakes and observed tsunami run-up are used to estimate tsunami-risk for the coasts of Peru and northern Chile for zones bounded by 5–35° S latitude. Tsunamigenic earthquake estimates yield magnitudes of 8.52, 8.64, and 8.73 for recurrence periods of 50, 100, and 200 years, respectively. Based on three different empirical relations between earthquake magnitudes and tsunamis, we estimate expected tsunami wave heights for various return periods. The average heights were 11.2 m (50 years), 13.7 m (100 years), and 15.9 m (200 years), while the maximum height values (obtained by Iidas method) were: 13.9, 17.3, and 20.4 m, respectively. Both the averaged and maximum seismological estimates of tsunami wave heights for this region are significantly smaller than the actually observed tsunami run-up of 24–28 m, for the major events of 1586, 1724, 1746, 1835, and 1877. Based directly on tsunami run-up data, we estimate tsunami wave heights of 13 m for a 50-year return period and 25 m for a 100-year return period. According to the seismic gap theory, we can expect that the next strong earthquake and tsunami will occur between 19 and 28° S in the vicinity of northern Chile.     

Real-Time Tsunami Forecasting: Challenges and Solutions

A new method for real-time tsunami forecasting will provide NOAAs Tsunami Warning Centers with forecast guidance tools during an actual tsunami event. PMEL has developed the methodology of combining real-time data from tsunameters with numerical model estimates to provide site- and event-specific forecasts for tsunamis in real time. An overview of the technique and testing of this methodology is presented.     

Local Tsunami Warning in the Pacific Coastal United States

Coastal areas are warned of a tsunami by natural phenomena and man-made warning systems. Earthquake shaking and/or unusual water conditions, such as rapid changes in water level, are natural phenomena that warn coastal areas of a local tsunami that will arrive in minutes. Unusual water conditions are the natural warning for a distant tsunami. Man-made warning systems include sirens, telephones, weather radios, and the Emergency Alert System. Man-made warning systems are normally used for distant tsunamis, but can be used to reinforce the natural phenomena if the systems can survive earthquake shaking. The tsunami warning bulletins provided by the West Coast/Alaska and Pacific Tsunami Warning Centers and the flow of tsunami warning from warning centers to the locals are critical steps in the warning process. Public knowledge of natural phenomena coupled with robust, redundant, and widespread man-made warning systems will ensure that all residents and tourists in the inundation zone are warned in an effective and timely manner.     

Tsunami deposits: Present knowledge and future challenges

Tsunami deposits are the primary source of information on (past) large tsunami events and thereby are crucial for accurate hazard assessments. Tsunami deposits studies have developed over the last three decades, but this is still a young geoscience discipline. Following the 5^th International Tsunami Field Symposium in 2017 an opportunity arose to publish a Special Issue focusing on present knowledge and future research challenges. This paper aims to briefly review current state-of-the-art research, summarizing major findings and gathering relevant works that describe the progress achieved over the last three decades. In this paper the relevance of tsunami deposits, their peculiar sedimentary characteristics and their differentiation from other high energy events are presented. Especially over the last decade an incredibly high number of studies have been published on tsunami deposits, many of which are of a high quality and provide detailed literature reviews. Some of these studies represent the current progress discussed here. Challenges are also introduced, to spur a discussion on future scientific questions that can and should be addressed by tsunami geoscientists. Coupling onshore–offshore records is an area where tsunami geoscience faces some of its major challenges. Moreover, the application of non-destructive high-resolution techniques to study the internal structure and composition of tsunami deposits can also provide an opportunity to further examine deposits, and from this derive physical parameters of the forcing mechanism. Another topic is better understanding of the erosional signature of tsunami events and a continuation of the effort to better incorporate age-estimation methods by developing more accurate dating methodology. Finally, there is also the need for the improvement of empirical, forward and regressive numerical models to better contribute to the characterization of tsunami events.     

Impact of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program on Operations of the Richard H. Hagemeyer Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

The first 7 years of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) have had a significant positive impact on operations of the Richard H. Hagemeyer Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC). As a result of its seismic project, the amount and quality of real-time seismic data flowing into PTWC has increased dramatically, enabling more rapid, accurate, and detailed analyses of seismic events with tsunamigenic potential. Its tsunameter project is now providing real-time tsunameter data from seven strategic locations in the deep ocean to more accurately measure tsunami waves as they propagate from likely source regions toward shorelines at risk. These data have already been used operationally to help evaluate potential tsunami threats. A new type of tsunami run-up gauge has been deployed in Hawaii to more rapidly assess local tsunamis. Lastly, numerical modeling of tsunamis done with support from the NTHMP is beginning to provide tools for real-time tsunami forecasting that should reduce the incidence of unnecessary warnings and provide more accurate forecasts for destructive tsunamis.     

A Human Damage Prediction Method for Tsunami Disasters Incorporating Evacuation Activities

This study presents a tsunami human damage prediction method employing numerical calculation and GIS (Geographical Information System) for Usa town, Tosa City, Shikoku Island, Japan. Sometime near the end of the first half of the twenty-first century, a huge earthquake is predicted to occur along the Nankai trough and costal areas facing the Pacific ocean of Shikoku Island. Much damage due to the resultant tsunamis will be caused, therefore, it is necessary to predict the extent of human damage for every town in high-risk areas.The number of tsunami victims was estimated by population in areas of maximum inundation. The number of deaths as a result of tsunami was estimated by a method which employed accumulated death toll of every area in terms of time and space, taking into account consideration of time necessary to begin to seek refuge after an earthquake, tsunami inundation depth on land, flow velocity and evacuation speed. As a result of this study a rapid decrease in death toll by early evacuation was shown quantitatively for the first time.Thus, with the method presented here, it is possible to estimate the extent of tsunami human damage on coastal regions, and may be useful as a tsunami human damage countermeasure.     

福建数字地下流体网对远处大震映震能力分析

本文收集、整理了2004年12月26日印尼苏门答腊西北近海8.7级地震和2005年印尼的8.5级和巴基斯坦的7.8级地震,我省地下流体数字化监测台网观测到的震时和震后效应。测点以永安-晋江断裂为界线,北边多数表现为水位上升,南边多数为下降。初步分析认为,这种现象可能与现代构造应力场有关。     

The Local Tsunami Alert System [``SLAT']: A Computational Tool for the Integral Management of a Tsunami Emergency

During a tsunami emergency numerous local authorities responsible for the security oflocal persons and businesses which function in the coastal zone are required to makecritical decisions within a very short time frame. It is known that the consequencesof the situation will depend on the quality and quantity of decisions which they makeor allow to occur at the critical time. Based on this concept, the Local System of Tsunami Alert (SLAT; Spanish) was developed. This is a computational tool designed for the automatic implementation of integral management for an emergency of this type.The System is able to immediately evaluate possible risks and determine thetype of alert represented (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Celeste) if relevantdata such as coordinates of the epicenter, magnitude, date, and origin of theearthquake (>6.5° on the Richter scale) threatening the Pacific areknown. Other relevant data include location of the coastal or marine epicentreand the superficial hypocenter. The relevant data may now be obtained fromthe internet from international seismological services, and fed into the programto give the most probable time for arrival of the first wave train at a given pointof interest, whether this be a port, bathing area, generating plant, or coastal city.The program also gives the time required for the first wave train to arrive at agiven coast, and displays a menu of previously planned actions to be taken accordingto the type of alert. It also permits dissemination of a bulletin with critical data and action plans by fax or e-mail to scattered users as well as for storage on the computer disc. The system is designed in a way that the user always confirms with authorities that anevent has in fact been generated. On a local scale, the user is required to prepare an operative emergency plan of action to be followed by his company, community, or municipality, to be followed for each type of alert.The System permits carrying out test exercises with the users, as well as simulationof past events. Knowledge concerning past events permits understanding correctdesign of emergency action plans for mitigation of potential present and future events.This software is specifically designed for the Pacific Coast of South America, and isprepared in Spanish, with the intention of improving responses of inhabitants of coastalareas to the potential threat from tsunamis.     

Tsunami Hazard and Risk in Canada

Tsunamis have occurred in Canada due to earthquakes, landslides, and a large chemical explosion. The Pacific coast is at greatest risk from tsunamis because of the high incidence of earthquakes and landslides in that region. The most destructive historical tsunamis, however, have been in Atlantic Canada – one in 1917 in Halifax Harbour, which was triggered by a catastrophic explosion on a munitions ship, and another in 1929 in Newfoundland, caused by an earthquake-triggered landslide at the edge of the Grand Banks. The tsunami risk along Canada's Arctic coast and along the shores of the Great Lakes is low in comparison to that of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Public awareness of tsunami hazard and risk in Canada is low because destructive tsunamis are rare events.     

Tsunami risk analysis for China

Historical data have been used in this paper, in particular that available on the tsunami history and the geological and seismological characteristics along the coasts of China. The nature and effects of both local tsunamis and tele-tsunamis on the coasts of China are analyzed. The coastal response of China to tsunamis is estimated theoretically, also. Finally, the tsunami risk for the coast of China is calculated and the zonation of preliminary tsunami hazard of China is mapped for three levels of hazardicity.     

海啸和海啸沉积

综述海啸沉积特征,认为岸上细粒海啸沉积物具有以下特点:（1）地层层序上向上变细、减薄;（2）水流方向的重复反向（即重复的双向水流）;（3）含有撕裂的碎屑;（4）较差的分选性;（5）向陆地延伸更远;但将以上任何单一特征看成是海啸沉积的特征性依据都是不恰当的,需要将以上特征结合起来判断,才能作为海啸沉积的依据。而有关岸上巨砾的海啸或是风暴来源,至今仍争论不清,但较一致认为巨砾堤坝复合体是风暴成因。浅水碎屑海啸岩通常为夹在低能稳定状态的背景沉积粉砂—黏土层内的一套独特砂层,可以根据海啸能量的增加到衰减分为Tna—Tnd四个不同单元;而地震海啸岩通常具有震积岩—海啸岩的沉积序列;碳酸盐海啸岩则显示了与海啸入射流和回流相关的冲刷—充填结构。深海的海啸沉积作用机制仍然不清。尽管海啸传播阶段可以产生地中海A型均质岩,但深海海啸岩可能主要与海啸回流有关,如目前讨论最多的K—T撞击海啸岩。尽管目前的研究促进了对海啸的认识,但存在诸如海啸沉积机制仍然不明确,海啸沉积识别依然困难等许多问题,海啸沉积学的进一步发展将为解决这些问题提供坚实基础。     

Tsunami sediments and their foraminiferal assemblages

Tsunami hazard assessment begins with a compilation of past events that have affected a specific location. Given the inherent limitations of historical archives, the geological record has the potential to provide an independent dataset useful for establishing a richer, chronologically deeper time series of past events. Recent geological studies of tsunami are helping to improve our understanding of the nature and character of tsunami sediments. Wherever possible, geologists should be working to improve the research ‘tool kit’ available to identify past tsunami events. Marine foraminifera (single celled heterotrophic protists) have often been reported as present within tsunami-deposited sediments but in reality, little information about environmental conditions, and by analogy, the tsunami that deposited them, has been reported even though foraminifera have an enormous capacity to provide meaningful palaeo-environmental data. Here, we review what foraminifera are, describe their basic form and significance, summarise where they have been reported in tsunami sediments and identify what can be learnt from them. We review the gaps in our understanding and make recommendations to assist researchers who examine foraminiferal assemblages in order to enhance their use within tsunami geology.     

Distribution Functions of Tsunami Wave Heights

The problem of describing the distribution functions of tsunami wave heights is discussed. Data on runup heights obtained in field surveys of several tsunamis for the last decade are used to calculate the empirical distribution functions. It is shown that the log-normal distribution describes the observed data well. This means that the irregular topography and coastline are major factors which influence the height distribution. The power distribution related with the geometric decay of the propagated wave is a good approximation for one event (Sulawesi, January 1, 1996) only. Results of a numerical simulation of the tsunami event in the Japan (East) Sea on July 12, 1993 are presented. It is shown that the computed wave height distribution, obtained by using the runup correction in the framework of nonlinear shallow-water theory, is in good agreement with the observed height distribution. Simulations are used to study the transformation of the distribution function on different distances from the source.     

Tsunami bore runup

Nearshore behaviors of tsunamis, specifically those formed as a single uniform bore, are investigated experimentally in a laboratory environment. The transition process from tsunami bore to runup is described by the momentum exchange process between the bore and the small wedge-shaped water body along the shore: the bore front itself does not reach the shoreline directly, but the large bore mass pushes the small, initially quiescent water in front of it. The fluid motions near the runup water line appear to be complex. The complex flow pattern must be caused by irregularities involved in the driving bore and turbulence advected into the runup flow. Those experimental results suggest that the tsunami actions at the shoreline involve significant mean kinetic energy together with violent turbulence. Even though the behaviors of bore motion were found to be different from those predicted by the shallow-water wave theory, the maximum runup height appears to be predictable by the theory if the value of the initial runup velocity is modified (reduced). Besides the friction effect, this reduction of the initial runup velocity must be related to the transition process as well as the highly interacting three-dimensional runup motion.     

Tsunamis and Tsunami Hazards in Central America

A tsunami catalogue for Central America is compiledcontaining 49 tsunamis for the period 1539–1996,thirty seven of them are in the Pacific and twelve inthe Caribbean. The number of known tsunamis increaseddramatically after the middle of the nineteenth century,since 43 events occurred between 1850 and 1996. This isprobably a consequence of the lack of populationliving near the coast in earlier times.The preliminary regionalization of the earthquakessources related to reported tsunamis shows that, inthe Pacific, most events were generated by theCocos-Caribbean Subduction Zone (CO-CA). At theCaribbean side, 5 events are related with the NorthAmerican-Caribbean Plate Boundary (NA-CA) and 7 withthe North Panama Deformed Belt (NPDB).There are ten local tsunamis with a specific damagereport, seven in the Pacific and the rest in theCaribbean. The total number of casualties due to localtsunamis is less than 455 but this number could behigher. The damages reported range from coastal andship damage to destruction of small towns, and theredoes not exist a quantification of them.A preliminary empirical estimation of tsunami hazardindicates that 43% of the large earthquakes (Ms 7.0) along the Pacific Coast of Central America and100% along the Caribbean, generate tsunamis. On thePacific, the Guatemala–Nicaragua coastal segment hasa 32% probability of generating tsunamis after largeearthquakes while the probability is 67% for theCosta Rica–Panama segment. Sixty population centers onthe Pacific Coast and 44 on the Caribbean are exposedto the impact of tsunamis. This estimation alsosuggests that areas with higher tsunami potential inthe Pacific are the coasts from Nicaragua to Guatemalaand Central Costa Rica; on the Caribbean side, Golfode Honduras Zone and the coasts of Panama and CostaRica have major hazard. Earthquakes of magnitudelarger than 7 with epicenters offshore or onshore(close to the coastline) could trigger tsunamis thatwould impact those zones.     

The Role of Education in the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program

Tsunami education activities, materials, and programs are recognized by the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) as the essential tool for near-source tsunami mitigation. Prior to the NTHMP, there were no state tsunami education programs outside of Hawaii and few earthquake education materials included tsunami hazards. In the first year of the NTHMP, a Strategic Plan was developed providing the framework for mitigation projects in the program. The Strategic Plan identifies education as the first of five mitigation strategic planning areas and targets a number of user groups, including schools, businesses, tourists, seasonal workers, planners, government officials, and the general public. In the 6 years of the NTHMP tsunami education programs have been developed in all five Pacific States and include print, electronic and video/film products, curriculum, signage, fairs and workshops, and public service announcements. Multi-state education projects supported by the NTHMP include TsuInfo, a bi-monthly newsletter, and Surviving a Tsunami, a booklet illustrating lessons from the 1960 Chilean tsunami. An additional education component is provided by the Public Affairs Working Group (PAWG) that promotes media coverage of tsunamis and the NTHMP. Assessment surveys conducted in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California show an increase in tsunami awareness and recognition of tsunami hazards among the general population since the NTHMP inception.     

Validating a Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment Model (the PTVA Model) Using Field Data from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

The “PTVAM” tsunami vulnerability assessment model [Papathoma and Dominey-Howes: 2003, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 3, 733–744; Papathoma et al.: 2003, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 3, 377–389], like all models, requires validation. We use the results from post-tsunami surveys in the Maldives following the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to ‘evaluate’ the appropriateness of the PTVAM attributes to understanding spatial and temporal vulnerability to tsunami damage and loss. We find that some of the PTVAM attributes are significantly important and others moderately important to understanding and assessing vulnerability. Some attributes require further investigation. Based upon the ground-truth data, we make several modifications to the model framework and propose a revised version of the PTVAM (PTVAM 2).