Search Results (32)

Traditional tsunami vulnerability assessments often rely on empirical models and field surveys, which can be time-consuming and have limited accuracy. In this study, we propose a novel approach that integrates high-resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry with numerical simulation to improve vulnerability assessment efficacy in Ancon Bay, Lima, Peru, by using the Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment (PTVA-4) model. For this purpose, a detailed 3D representation of the study area was generated using UAV-based oblique photogrammetry, enabling the extraction of building attributes. Additionally, a high-resolution numerical tsunami simulation was conducted using the TUNAMI-N2 model for a potential worst-case scenario that may affect the Central Peru subduction zone, incorporating topographic and land-use data obtained with UAV-based nadir photogrammetry. The results indicate that the northern region of Ancon Bay exhibits higher relative vulnerability levels due to greater inundation depths and more tsunami-prone building attributes. UAV-based assessments provide a rapid and detailed method for evaluating building vulnerability. These findings indicate that the proposed methodology is a valuable tool for supporting coastal risk planning and disaster preparedness in tsunami-prone areas. Full article

Tsunamis are destructive oceanic hazards caused by underwater disturbances, mainly earthquakes. A deterministic tsunami hazard assessment for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), due to the Makran Subduction Zone (MSZ), was conducted based on the history of earthquakes in the region and considering the rapid development and urbanization of the east coast of the UAE. A variety of earthquake source scenarios was modeled, involving moment magnitudes of 8.2, 8.8, and 9.2. Tsunami travel time (TTT), run-up, flow depth, and inundation maps were generated to pinpoint the areas susceptible to tsunami hazards for the eastern coastal cities of Kalba, Al Fujairah, Khor Fakkan, and Dibba. The results show that the worst-case M_w 9.2 earthquake in a full MSZ rupture scenario resulted in an average TTT of 37 min, a maximum run-up height of 2.55 m, a maximum flow depth of 2.2 m, and a maximum inundation distance of 253 m on the east coast of the UAE. The M_w 8.2 western MSZ earthquake and the M_w 8.8 eastern MSZ earthquake scenarios were of less significant impact. These findings provide new insights into tsunami hazard assessment and are expected to play a vital role in advancing sustainable development in the region by providing key information for stakeholders and authorities as they highlight the need for enhanced tsunami mitigation and preparedness measures to reduce the potential impact of future tsunamis on the UAE. Full article

This study investigates public interest in geological disasters by analyzing Google Trends data from 2023. This research focuses on earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and tsunamis to understand how search behaviors reflect public awareness and concern. This study identifies temporal and geographical patterns in search trends. Key findings reveal that public interest spikes during significant disaster events, such as the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria and the August 2023 hurricanes in the United States. This study highlights the importance of timely and accurate information dissemination for disaster preparedness and response. Google Trends proves to be a valuable tool for monitoring public interest, offering real-time insights that can enhance disaster management strategies and improve community resilience. This study’s insights are essential for policymakers, disaster management agencies, and educational efforts aimed at mitigating the impacts of natural disasters. Full article

This study explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing earthquake risk mitigation across six key areas. Unlike traditional approaches, this paper examines how AI-driven innovations can uniquely enhance early warning systems, enabling real-time structural health monitoring, and providing dynamic, multi-hazard risk assessments that seamlessly integrate seismic data with other natural hazards such as tsunamis and landslides. It introduces groundbreaking applications of AI in earthquake-resilient design, where generative design algorithms and predictive analytics create structures that optimally balance safety, cost, and sustainability. The study also presents a novel discussion on the ethical implications of AI in this domain, stressing the critical need for transparency, accountability, and bias mitigation. Looking forward, the manuscript envisions the development of advanced AI platforms capable of delivering real-time, personalized risk assessments, immersive public training programs, and collaborative design tools that adapt to evolving seismic data. These innovations promise not only to significantly enhance current earthquake preparedness but also to pave the way toward a future where the societal impact of earthquakes is drastically reduced. This work underscores the potential of AI’s role in shaping a safer, more resilient future, emphasizing the importance of continued innovation, ethical governance, and collaborative efforts. Full article

Disaster memorials have emerged as pivotal approaches for not only commemorating disasters but also imparting lessons to future generations. However, despite discussions on preservation, little involvement has been reflected in the impacts of different memorial patterns in disaster risk reduction (DRR). This study examines the roles of disaster-related memorial facilities in DRR, exploring how distinct memorial patterns transfer disaster experiences to future generations. This research is based on a quantitative strategy, applying an online questionnaire with 538 respondents who visited the three selected sites under the background of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) to identify their triggers and purpose for visiting, the impact of facilities on raising disaster awareness, the practical contents, and the important roles of DRR. The findings reveal that while all three facilities contribute to DRR with the same most important role as disseminating the lessons of the GEJET, their impact on visitors’ disaster awareness varies. Sendai Arahama Elementary School particularly raises awareness of disaster threats, while the Higashi-Matsushima Memorial Museums and the 3.11 Memorial Community Center enhance visitors’ disaster-related knowledge. Visually stimulating exhibits in the facilities, such as remains, photos, and videos, underscore the importance of disaster preparedness, while panels and science exhibits offer comprehensive insights into disaster-related knowledge. However, none of the three sites have significant roles in deepening regional exchange. Full article

Volcanic eruptions stand as destructive threats to adjacent communities, unleashing multiple hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, pyroclastic flows, and toxic gases. The imperative for proactive management of volcanic risks and communities’ adaptation cannot be overstated, particularly in densely populated areas where the potential for widespread devastation looms large. Kolumbo, an active submarine volcano located approximately 7 km northeast of Santorini Island in Greece, serves as a pertinent case. Its historical record is characterised by an eruption in 1650 CE that produced a catastrophic tsunami. The aftermath witnessed havoc on neighbouring islands, coupled with casualties stemming from noxious gases in Santorini. Eyewitness accounts mention maximum water run-up heights of 20 m on the southern coast of Ios, inundation of an area of 240 m inland on Sikinos, and a flooding of up to 2 km² inland on the eastern coast of Santorini. Recent studies suggest that a potential future eruption of Kolumbo poses a substantial hazard to the northern and eastern coasts of Santorini. Unfortunately, the absence of a concrete management protocol leaves these areas vulnerable to an impending threat that demands immediate attention. Therefore, it is recommended that a comprehensive approach be adopted, involving scientific research (active monitoring, hazard maps), community engagement, preparedness planning with government agencies, and the development of timely response strategies to reduce the associated risks, prevent casualties, and mitigate the potential consequences on the region’s economy and infrastructure. Full article

Given massive events, such as demonstrations in coastal cities exposed to tsunamigenic earthquakes, it is essential to explore pedestrian motion methods to help at-risk coastal communities and stakeholders understand the current issues they face to enhance disaster preparedness. This research targets SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. It strengthens resilience in coastal areas by implementing a social force model using a microscopic agent-based model to assess the impact of human behaviour on evacuation performance by introducing evacuation stress levels due to a tsunami triggered in central Chile. Two scenarios with two environments and three crowd sizes are implemented in NetLogo. In Scenario 1, pedestrians walk at a relaxed velocity. In Scenario 2, tsunami evacuation stress is incorporated, resulting in pedestrians walking at a running velocity, taking, on average, four times less time to evacuate. We explored more realistic settings by considering the internal susceptibility of each agent to spread tsunami evacuation stress among other evacuees. Results from Scenario 2 show that internal susceptibility effects almost double the mean evacuation time for 200 agents. Findings suggest a trade-off between realism and the minimization of evacuation time. This research is considered a first step toward including stress in tsunami evacuations for sustainable evacuation planning. Full article

Tsunamis are a substantial natural threat in Thailand, as evidenced by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Effective evacuation is vital to reduce casualties and property damage. However, despite improved warning systems, high death tolls still occur, indicating complex evacuation behavior influenced by various factors. This study examines these factors among diverse groups in Phuket and Phang Nga, Thailand. A survey of 1000 locals, non-local workers, and travelers assesses threat and coping appraisals, past tsunami experiences, gender, age, and tsunami evacuation intention and action selection. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data based on the hypotheses related to the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). The results of the analyses show that threat and coping appraisals significantly predict tsunami evacuation intention, and gender influences threat perception related to evacuation. Variations among respondent types emphasize the need for tailored disaster preparedness and response strategies. This study offers crucial insights for policymakers, emergency responders, and disaster management stakeholders, underlining the significance of further research into the intricate interplay of individual and contextual factors shaping tsunami evacuation behavior. Full article

The past offers important lessons with regard to facing the future with greater awareness. In this context, school plays a key role in spreading knowledge of natural phenomena and in promoting behavior change. Together with researchers, teachers can be strong allies to build more resilient future citizens. The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) school training activities provide tools to prepare for the next earthquake and/or tsunami. Approximately 5000 students, from both middle schools (ISCED 2) and high schools (ISCED 3), were involved in active learning activities based on a flipped-up approach during specific online scientific events during the pandemic. Online lab activities were conducted during European Researchers’ Night (“Earthquakes: history teaches us the future: researchers for a day with experimentation in didactics for ESL”) and during both World Water Day 2021 and World Earth Day 2021 (“Tsunamis: history teaches us the future researchers for a day with experimentation in didactics for ESL”). These two Episodes of Situated Learning (ESL) experiences triggered students’ interest, favoring remote learning, developing life skills, and focusing on historical seismic studies of both past earthquakes and tsunamis. Full article

Seismologists listen to Earth’s noise as it rips apart (faulting), exudes (volcanoes) and swallows (subducts) large volumes of rock. Your mobile phone is most likely detecting such noise, right now! This paper is about one such specific noise, the T wave. It summarises an early and successful piece of citizen science, performed within The University of Queensland Seismograph Stations (UQSS) observatory, in cooperation with colleagues at CSIRO. It was designed to encourage young STEM students from Brisbane high schools to engage in “real” research, back in 1995. Bear in mind, this is a time period when science is changing considerably from analog to digital media and operational recording methods. The citizen science students used a pre-prepared decadal collection (1980–1990) of T waves, derived from the Brisbane seismograph (BRS) observatory data catalogue. BRS has been operating since 1937 and is part of the global World-Wide Seismograph Station Network (WWSSN). Fortunately, seismology is a very collaborative field. There is a lot of data analysis involved in the science of recording earthquake signals, with auxiliary definitive catalogues, observers logbooks, housing of the recordings themselves (analog and digital) and the software mediums that change over time. It equally tests housekeeping proficiency, where a maze of record-keeping problems can be encountered in a longitudinal data collection study such as this. Having completed the project report, Earthquake generated T phases on BRS Seismograph (Brisbane, Q’ld) a predictor for Tasman Sea Tsunamis? their (analog) results sat in a cupboard until recently. The project was re-analysed in 2022 for a higher-degree student, discovering a timely climate change implication for the study. The original research question has now been amplified with a brief literature review. We observe that currently in Australia, university and government earth science observatories have diminished, and in their place, public seismic networks (PSN) have evolved, either in backyard sheds or school science labs. We now additionally propose here that the level of expertise required ideally fits the role of advancing citizen science, for a real science advantage. This is already a topical citizen disaster preparedness action area, and we propose that it has applications as a possible educational strategy for citizen engagement in today’s climate emergency. In addition, we are hopeful that other researchers in oceanography will read this paper and decide to explore the ocean’s temperature rise phenomenon through the eyes of seismological observers. Full article

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) generates digital elevation models (DEMs) that range from the local to global scale. Collectively, these DEMs are essential to determining the timing and extent of coastal inundation and improving community preparedness, event forecasting, and warning systems. We initiated a comprehensive framework at NCEI, the Continuously Updated DEM (CUDEM) Program, with seamless bare-earth, topographic-bathymetric and bathymetric DEMs for the entire United States (U.S.) Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Coasts, Hawaii, American Territories, and portions of the U.S. Pacific Coast. The CUDEMs are currently the highest-resolution, seamless depiction of the entire U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts in the public domain; coastal topographic-bathymetric DEMs have a spatial resolution of 1/9th arc-second (~3 m) and offshore bathymetric DEMs coarsen to 1/3rd arc-second (~10 m). We independently validate the land portions of the CUDEMs with NASA’s Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observatory and calculate a corresponding vertical mean bias error of 0.12 m ± 0.75 m at one standard deviation, with an overall RMSE of 0.76 m. We generate the CUDEMs through a standardized process using free and open-source software (FOSS) and provide open-access to our code repository. The CUDEM framework consists of systematic tiled geographic extents, spatial resolutions, and horizontal and vertical datums to facilitate rapid updates of targeted areas with new data collections, especially post-storm and tsunami events. The CUDEM framework also enables the rapid incorporation of high-resolution data collections ingested into local-scale DEMs into NOAA NCEI’s suite of regional and global DEMs. Future research efforts will focus on the generation of additional data products, such as spatially explicit vertical error estimations and morphologic change calculations, to enhance the utility and scientific benefits of the CUDEM Program. Full article

The U.S. Pacific Northwest coast must be prepared to evacuate immediately after a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. This requires coastal residents to understand the tsunami threat, have accurate expectations about warning sources, engage in preimpact evacuation preparedness actions, and plan (and practice) their evacuation logistics, including an appropriate transportation mode, evacuation route, and destination. A survey of 221 residents in three communities identified areas in which many coastal residents have reached adequate levels of preparedness. Moreover, residents who are not adequately prepared are willing to improve their performance in most of the areas in which they fall short. However, many respondents expect to engage in time-consuming evacuation preparations before evacuating. Additionally, their estimates of evacuation travel time might be inaccurate because only 28–52% had practiced their evacuation routes. These results indicate that more coastal residents should prepare grab-and-go kits to speed their departure, as well as practice evacuation preparation and evacuation travel to test the accuracy of these evacuation time estimates. Overall, these results, together with recommendations for overcoming them, can guide CSZ emergency managers in methods of improving hazard awareness and education programs. In addition, these data can guide transportation engineers’ evacuation analyses and evacuation plans. Full article

“Tsunami Alert Efficiency” is the rapid, accurate and reliable conduct of tsunami warning messaging, from the detection of potential tsunamigenic earthquakes to dissemination to all people under threat, and the successful survival of every person at risk on the basis of prior awareness and preparedness. Full article

Cyprus has a long history of tsunami activity, as described in archaeological and geological records. Although the study area has experienced tsunamis in the past and constitutes an area threatened by this hazard both from the Cyprean arc and from the neighboring Hellenic arc, field research on tsunami evidence on the coastal zone of Cyprus still remains scarce. It is clear from the literature that large boulder accumulations are an important feature along the coasts of Cyprus, testifying to extreme events. A detailed field survey revealed that at various locations cited in the literature as hosting geomorphological evidence of past tsunamis, no such evidence was identified. It is likely that the high touristic activity that has been occurring on the coasts of Cyprus during the last 20 years may have affected tsunami indicators such as boulder accumulations. Tsunamis are unpredictable and infrequent but potentially large-impact natural disasters. The latest strong tsunami that caused damage to the Cypriot coast was centuries ago, when the population and economic growth and development at the Cypriot shoreline did not exist. Today, the coastal zone hosts a higher population as well as increasing touristic activity, highlighting the need for better preparedness, awareness raising and for tsunami-related risk reduction. Full article

In this paper, we introduce, model, and solve a clustered resource allocation and routing problem for humanitarian aid distribution in the event of an earthquake and subsequent tsunami. First, for the preparedness stage, we build a set of clusters to identify, classify, sort, focus, and prioritize the aid distribution. The clusters are built with k-means method and a modified version of the capacitated p-median model. Each cluster has a set of beneficiaries and candidate delivery aid points. Second, vehicle routes are strategically determined to visit the clusters for the response stage. A mixed integer linear programming model is presented to determine efficient vehicle routes, minimizing the aid distribution times. A vulnerability index is added to our model to prioritize aid distribution. A case study is solved for the city of Iquique, Chile. Full article