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On January 1 2024, at 16:10 JST, an earthquake of Mw 7.5 occurred underneath the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. This event caused a cascading disaster impact on cities in the Noto Peninsula through a series of strong earthquake shakes, strong ground motions, slope failures, liquefaction, fire, and tsunamis. The tsunami first reached Suzu City a few minutes after the earthquake, eventually affecting approximately 340 km of the coast from the Ishikawa to Niigata Prefectures. The Coastal Engineering Committee of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers conducted an organized post-event field survey to understand the impact of tsunamis on land. This study summarizes the post-event field survey results and provides a general understanding of tsunami behavior and damage using measured tsunami inundation and run-up heights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many discussions on the impacts of natural disasters on fertility outcomes, their implications for fertility preferences as a mechanism remain unexplored. This study proposes that natural disasters could promote fertility preferences by reinforcing traditional values. The empirical analysis relies on a post-tsunami longitudinal survey of individuals in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra in Indonesia frankenberg2020study. Out of the 28,376 survey respondents, our sample considers around 10,700 individuals aged 15 or more, whose responses are available for the variables used in the estimation. The results from individual-level cross-sectional regressions suggest that the ideal number of children increased with the extent of tsunami damage in that region. The increased fertility preference was more pronounced for people with greater religiosity and those who strengthened their family ties after the tsunami, supporting that the shift in fertility preference was intertwined with the rise of traditional values. For policymakers, our findings raise the need to consider the potentially lasting implications of shifts in cultural attitudes toward fertility beyond immediate post-disaster relief efforts. To address the limitations of our cross-sectional evidence, future research will need to investigate the dynamic relationship between fertility preferences and natural disasters using alternative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a real-time tsunami estimation method was developed using the linear superposition of Green's functions, which account for nonlinear tsunami effects around coastal areas. To this end, first, the nonlinear effects associated with the inundation and bottom friction and advection terms in a nonlinear long-wave model were investigated, focusing on large tsunamis around Urado Bay in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, which is at risk of future damage from tsunamis produced by the Nankai Trough earthquake. The results indicate that the effects of advection play a more significant role than those of the inundation and bottom friction in terms of accurately estimating near-shore tsunami propagation. Then, based on these results, Green's functions were modified to account for the linearly approximated effects of the advection terms. By applying the developed method to tsunamis around Urado Bay, it was demonstrated that accurate estimations of the water surface level and flow velocity changes could be quickly obtained at any location around the bay. The developed method can be applied to real-time tsunami inundation forecasting and off-shore evacuation simulations of vessels to support optimal evacuation decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tsunami inundations or slope disasters of heavy rain, a lot of floating debris or driftwood logs are included in the flows. The damage to structures from solid body impacts is more severe than the damage from the water pressure. In order to study free-surface flows that include floating debris, developing a high-accurate simulation code of free-surface flows with high performance for large-scale computations is desired. We propose the single-phase free-surface flow model based on the cumulant lattice Boltzmann method coupled with a particle-based rigid body simulation. The discrete element method calculates the contact interaction between solids. An octree-based AMR (Adaptive Mesh Refinement) method is introduced to improve computational accuracy and time-to-solution. High-resolution grids are assigned near the free surfaces and solid boundaries. We conducted two kinds of tsunami flow experiments in the 15 and 70m water tanks at Hachinohe Institute of Technology and Kobe University to validate the accuracy of the proposed model. The simulation results have shown good agreement with the experiments for the drifting speed, the number of trapped wood pieces, and the stacked angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we update a catalogue of 2001–2011 New Zealand earthquakes relocated with a 3-D seismic velocity model, which has recent improvements. We use P- and S-wave arrival times from earthquakes during 2001–2011 as these were manually picked with assigned quality. We demonstrate the usefulness of the catalogue by considering results from the southern South Island where GeoNet seismograph spacing is large. Later phase data used automatic picking and processing of arrival times. We relocate the 2019–2020 data from National Geohazards Monitoring Centre (NGMC) and compare seismicity patterns to consider its usefulness. We find that the auto-detected crustal earthquakes are more sparse in most of the southern South Island compared to the earlier analyst-picked data period, including Fiordland, which is one of the most seismically active areas in New Zealand. The auto-detected seismicity pattern is also problematic at greater depth and does not show a seismicity band in the lower crust across Southland evident in 2001–2011 data. The detection capability could be improved with a much denser permanent network. We recommend that the 2001–2011 relocated catalogues be used in studies of tectonics and seismic hazard across the South Island, and in studies that consider New Zealand wide seismicity patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in the magnitude of natural disasters has led to the development of risk assessment methodologies to indicate risk levels in qualitative terms. Among these, the Source-Pathway-Receptor-Consequence (SPRC) methodology assesses the risk from the source of the hazard to the possible consequences. In the present work, an economic evaluation was carried out on the substantial damages directly associated with the floods generated by a 10 m high tsunami off the coast of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. This event was identified as the worst-case scenario of tsunamis associated with a 8.4 Mw earthquake. The method followed was the SPRC, with an economic evaluation, applied to street level in Zihuatanejo. The economic costs were obtained from the results of this work using a criterion to characterize the percentage of damage to various types of housing and goods associated with different levels of flooding. This work is intended as a basis for the better planning of urban development, considering possible economic damage from tsunamis. It also provides a more objective perspective for distributing funds for mitigating natural disasters, allowing aid to be directed to the areas and types of housing with greatest risk from the flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effectiveness of a new discrete V-shaped coastal barrier (V-wall) to reduce multiple tsunami-bore impacts on a group of idealized coastal structures. The performance comparison has been made between a baseline model (BM), continuous straight wall models (SW), and V-wall (VW) models. A number of key parameters including the barrier height and length along with the arrangement of the landward structures are investigated numerically using the 3-D smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach. From the SPH models output the bore velocity, maximum force, total impulse, and pressure distribution on the structures are examined. The results indicate that the V-walls can provide a similar level of protection to continuous seawalls of the same height and hence can be considered as an economic alternative to protection in tsunami prone regions. However, in order to gain the greatest benefit from the V-walls, strategic planning of the position and orientation of landward structures and the walls themselves are needed to avoid bore flow focusing and reflection effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial correlation of ground motion in the Kanto Basin in Japan is studied based on 5760 dense network seismic records from 61 earthquake events. The inter-event, intra-event and total correlations of zero separation distance ground motion parameters are obtained, and the results show that the inter-event residuals have stronger correlation than the intra-event residuals and total residuals. A prediction equation for the correlation model of ground motion parameters in the Kanto Basin is proposed. Compared with others model, the proposed model obtained better spatial correlation and correlation length of ground motion in the Kanto Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rigid-frame bridges with a fully continuous moment connection between the superstructure and substructure piers are suitable for high-seismic regions; however, research on the response of these bridge types under tsunami loads is limited. This paper presents a framework for developing fragility functions of coastal rigid-frame bridges, and bridges with strong pier-to-deck connectivity, undergoing tsunami-induced hydrodynamic loads. The fragility analysis is demonstrated on a three-span reinforced concrete (RC) bridge structure with double-column bents. The Monte Carlo simulation is implemented to consider the uncertainties in capacity and demand parameters. The efficiency of single-parameter and two-parameter intensity measures for predicting the response of bridges is examined. The viability of strengthening bridge piers using fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) is also investigated. The results indicate that the use of two-parameter intensity measures is a better option to estimate the structural response since the hydrodynamic forces are a function of both the flow depth and velocity. This also leads to a significant reduction in the scatter of fragility data. The comparative assessment of the initial and FRP-strengthened bridges highlights that the FRP-jacketing is an effective method in reducing the risk of failure of the rigid-frame bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main aim of this study was to determine if young adults, who as children and adolescents were heavily exposed to the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, had late reminders of this disaster nine years post disaster and, if so, how they handled these late reminders. Method: The subjects who had been exposed when they were between 10 and 15 years old were interviewed nine years post disaster when they had reached adulthood. Results: All those interviewed stated that they had experienced different late reminders of the 2004 tsunami even nine years later. They said that they could plan in advance or deal with late reminders should they occur. Two types of reminders were identified, one type designated as external and the other as internal. The interview subjects described how they had handled these reminders by striving for balance by thinking, talking, letting feelings out, doing something else or by avoiding. Conclusions: These young adults strived to find a balance between their function as adults in society and continued effects from the 2004 tsunami. A person, even if not affected functionally, can be affected in different ways in adulthood by the natural disaster they had experienced during childhood or adolescence. This is something important for anyone to think about when he or she meets persons who have been heavily exposed to a natural disaster many years earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To take advantage of enormous evacuation data for the efficiency of emergency evacuation, we in this paper develop an improved framework for evacuation planning, which is composed of a modified network-based model and a corresponding optimization structure. Under the proposed framework, we describe pedestrians' features in a computationally efficient way according to their movement pattern and design a model where a typical optimization problem can be well integrated. At the optimization stage, we present a novel algorithm that is more suitable for the allocation of network nodes. For validation, the framework is applied based on the data from experiments and a specific scenario to simulate emergency evacuation. The preliminary numerical results show that a satisfactory evacuation plan can be developed within an acceptable calculation time. Combining with other supporting data, the framework can be further extended to investigate other evacuation strategies in large-scale and crowded pedestrian facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the effects of near-fault motion characteristics on the seismic performance of tall pier bridges. Using the analytical models calibrated by shake table tests, fragility analysis was conducted investigating the influence of near-fault motion features (i.e., period (Tv) and number (N) of velocity pulses). Results show that seismic fragility of the tall pier under near-fault motions is highly correlated to Tv and the damage states considered, while the influence of N is less significant. Consequently, when considering the seismic behavior of tall piers under near-fault pulse-like motions, choosing records with respect to Tv may lead to more reliable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami are one of the most catastrophic natural disasters that took place in Japan. The disaster caused widespread destruction to the estuarine and coastal areas along the northeastern region of Japan. The Abukuma River mouth, among many estuaries in Miyagi Prefecture, suffered major damage from the tsunami in which the sand spit and the sand terrace were severely eroded. The present study aims to provide a better comprehension of the morphology of the Abukuma River mouth within a decade after the 2011 tsunami based on the collected datasets of imagery and offshore bathymetry surveys. The consecutive changes of the sand terrace and sand spit indicate their connection influencing the morphological recovery in the Abukuma River mouth. About a year after the tsunami, the sand terrace re-appeared by a flood event and became the sediment source to recover the sand spit under the intrusion process. When the sand spit almost recovered and achieved a stable configuration, the sediment from the sand terrace into the river was restricted. As a result, more sediment from the sand terrace was expected to be transported to the downdrift area under the dominant wave condition in the Abukuma River mouth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solitary waves are often used to replicate tsunami waves and, therefore, the study of their propagation and interactions with structures could help to understand the impacts of tsunami waves on infrastructures. This paper presents a numerical model that uses the level-set framework for simulating the propagation of solitary waves and their interactions with structures using the immersed boundary method. The model imposes a set of appropriate boundary conditions to prescribe the incoming solitary waves within the sharp-interface immersed boundary method. Turbulence is modelled using the large-eddy simulation. Experimental tests are conducted to measure the free-surface elevation and velocity field evolution of solitary waves, as they propagate downwave interacting with two different wall-mounted structures. Analysis of the computed and experimental results revealed interesting dynamics of primary vortex-tubes forming near the sharp edges of structures. It is shown that the primary vortices eventually split to form pairs of asymmetrical doublets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main scope of this article is to show how certain additional poles of a structural system, other than the classical ones, can be measured and considered within the area of structural dynamics such as for example damage detection and model updating; such poles can enrich the intrinsic modal database of the system and even be used to analyze the structure in a local sense. Such poles can be extracted by using certain response-based frequency response functions (R-FRFs) which do not require the measurement of exciting forces. Therefore, the objective of the present article is multiple because (i) the potential of certain FRFs is illustrated in the realm of structural dynamics along with the possibility to (ii) increase a privileged data-base (poles) through which (iii) local analyses of a structure can be carried out. Numerical simulations test the theoretical findings and show the ability of such additional poles to carry out local diagnoses on structural systems generally through a higher sensitivity than that of classical poles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop disaster mitigation measures in coastal regions affected by earthquakes, it is important to consider the effects of both seismic and tsunami hazards on road structures and assess the social impacts associated with the economic loss and reduction in network functionality. In this paper, a risk- and resilience-based assessment framework is established for road networks under both seismic and tsunami hazards. In the proposed methodology, the risk and resilience are quantified by the economic loss and postdisaster functionality of road networks, respectively. Uncertainties associated with estimations of fault movement, hazard intensity and structural vulnerability are considered when estimating the failure probability using Monte Carlo simulation. Moreover, structural vulnerability against tsunamis is estimated considering the effects of ground motion-induced damage on the reduction in tsunami capacity. As an illustrative example, the road networks in two Japanese cities expected to be affected by the anticipated Nankai Trough earthquake, which would cause strong ground motions and a subsequent tsunami, are analyzed. Finally, the retrofitting prioritization for various structures is discussed based on the risk and resilience quantified as performance indicators for social impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2011 Tohoku Tsunami caused severe damage to many coastal defenses along the Japanese coastline, including areas where two adjacent upright sea dikes of different heights met. There are many places along the coastline where structures of different heights and shapes meet due to the various design codes. In this study, the authors aim to examine the tsunami flow around such dikes by conducting three-dimensional hydraulic experiments in a tsunami wave basin and numerical simulations using the fluid dynamics model OpenFOAM. Twelve experimental cases were tested by changing the waveforms, and also by keeping the height of one side of the dike model constant while adjusting the dimensions of the other side. The results show that the difference in height between the structures significantly influences the volume of overtopping over the relatively lower dike and the inundation depth and velocity behind the dikes. Furthermore, different characteristics of inundation patterns are observed between the inundation depth and velocity. Hence, this study illustrates the necessity to re-assess the effectiveness of such structures against tsunami events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fragility function shows the building damage likelihood based on a demand parameter such as the tsunami flow depth. While empirical fragility functions have been developed by using postdisaster damage survey data, regions with no recent tsunami damage cannot develop these estimations. Alternatively, analytical fragility functions could be developed to fill this gap. Along the Colombian Pacific coast, several tsunami events have occurred; however, the aftermath resulting from the structure physical damage was not recorded. Fortunately, other regions of the have collected tsunami damage information, which has been analyzed and represented in terms of empirical fragility functions. This paper provides a comparative study of empirical and analytical tsunami fragility functions. It is focused on the analytical fragility functions developed for typical structures in Tumaco, Colombia and on empirical fragility curves taken from damage survey data of recent tsunami events. The differences in the assessments of the damage produced by the two methods in the case of a two-story reinforced concrete building in Tumaco is discussed herein. As a result of the comparison, it was shown that the structures in Tumaco have higher collapse probabilities at lower flow depths than structures in other places along the Pacific and Indian Oceans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extreme typhoon Lan caused devastating damage to the Seisho Coast of Japan in 2017. This study presents nearshore wave measurements conducted at different locations along the shore and numerical hindcasts to elucidate the extreme wave field during the typhoon focusing on infragravity wave dynamics, which was comparable in magnitude to incident short waves in shallow water. During the peak of the typhoon, there was a significant wave height of ~8 m, and the infragravity wave height exceeded 2 m at a 14 m depth. The measurement data suggest that infragravity waves developed as bound waves from incident wave groups and partially dissipated during the typhoon peak in the surf and swash zones through their energy transfer to high-frequency waves. Numerical wave hindcasting models successfully reproduced the measured extreme wave field and indicated that the wave refraction over Oiso Spur caused an incident wave concentration in the severely damaged area where high waves collapsed a seawall during the typhoon. Moreover, infragravity waves also exhibited significant alongshore variation, which was due to the different bottom slopes and incident short-wave properties. This study identifies several key features that may have caused the localization of significant damage along the Seisho Coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tsunamis can cause large damage to breakwaters and other protection structures placed along the coastline. The strong flows generated by such waves can move the armor units of composite breakwaters, leading to large impact forces on the caissons behind them. In the present work laboratory experiments were carried out in a flume to determine the forces that can result from such impacts. Then, an empirical equation that would allow the estimation of these forces was proposed, with the aim of facilitating the construction of returning walls and parapets situated on top of caissons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the applicability of numerical simulations in tracking debris motion for probabilistic assessments of debris collisions with buildings and components installed in coastal industrial sites at a local scale (O (1 km)), the applicability of the numerical approach is investigated through numerical simulations of laboratory experiments. Two characteristic phenomena are found that cannot be expressed by the numerical simulations. The first characteristic phenomenon is debris motion approaching a building model in a reflected wave. To simulate this phenomenon, the incorporation of a turbulent bore model into the numerical model is proposed. The second characteristic phenomenon is debris diffusion due to various perturbations. For simulation of this phenomenon, two approaches are proposed. In the first approach, some causes of debris diffusions are separately modeled. In the second approach, diffusions due to various perturbations are simulated by artificially intensifying debris diffusions. By investigating impacts of the two approaches on probabilistic assessments of debris collision, it is found that debris spreads and the exceedance probabilities of collision speed can be predicted well by considering epistemic uncertainties in determination of diffusion intensity by the latter approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, a massive tsunami caused serious damage to coastal dikes. Local scour at the ground behind these dikes reportedly causes dike failures. It is important to reveal the scour process to establish methods for effective scour countermeasures. Herein, we focus on geogrids. To verify this proposal and examine its design, flume-model experiments were performed for non-liquefied and liquefied grounds behind coastal dikes. The results showed that the scour amount and area were reduced drastically when geogrids were present. Geogrids on the sand-bed surface changed the direction of overflow water. Thus, a scour hole developed away from a coastal dike model. Furthermore, geogrids exerted a scour-reduction effect even during liquefaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The March 2011 Mega-Tsunami in eastern Japan damaged at different degrees the black pine (Pinus thunbergii) forests along the coast. In order to evaluate the recovery of black pine four years later, tree-ring samples from 9 trees for the period 2002-2014 were analyzed for ring growth and stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N and δ18O). The results showed that annual tree-ring width decreased approximately 70 % from the year 2011 to 2014 compared to the period previous to the tsunami (2002-2010). The multiple isotopic analyses showed that the reduction in growth was caused by soil salinity that prompted stomatal closure and an abrupt increase of tree-ring δ13C. Sea water deposition in the soil did not affect tree-ring δ18O values. Two years after the tsunami, decreasing tree-ring δ13C values caused by apparently photosynthetic recovery did not translate into radial tree-growth, indicating a possible shift in carbon allocation to foliage and mainly roots as a defense mechanism to sodium toxicity. The dual δ13C-δ18O model explains neither the limited growth nor the subsequent recovery in δ13C. Similarly tree-ring δ15N indicated that there was no difference in nitrogen availability before and after the tsunami, suggesting that nutrients were not a limitation but rather soil salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, coastal forests dissipated the energy of the tsunami and trapped flotsam. Although studies have shown how trees dissipate flow energy and are damaged in the process, the factors determining the trapping of flotsam by lines of trees or their capacity to do so have not been quantitatively examined. Quantitative evaluation of these factors may lead to tree-based strategies for suppressing the secondary damage caused by tsunami flotsam. To increase the ability of trees to mitigate damage, their physical limitations need to be identified. Field surveys revealed that integrated clusters of flotsam were caught by trees even if individual floating objects were smaller than the distance between the trees. Hydraulic experiments revealed relations between physical factors and the capture of flotsam. From these relations, we derived a simple formula for evaluating the trapping capacity of lines of trees. The estimates from our model were consistent with the actual results of the 2011 tsunami in Tagajo city, Miyagi prefecture, where trees did not topple under the forces applied by trapped flotsam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a modified water poverty index that captures several waterscape attributes to better understand complex issues surrounding water. Household surveys (n= 300), water quality tests (n= 375) and qualitative methods were deployed to examine 14 post-tsunami settlements in Nagapattinam and Karaikal Districts (India) through the lens of water. Data were used to develop a contextualized, participant-driven water poverty index to measure water poverty at several scales. Statistical tests revealed significant differences between the two districts (p≤ .0001) and between rural and urban areas within each district (p≤ .0001). Three weight schemes (one dictated entirely by research participants) produced analogous outcomes though predicated on different indicator arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

After the 2004 Tsunami, non-governmental organisations and international groups sought permission from government agencies to implement ecosystem restoration projects. Following the logic of the anticommons problem, the likelihood of project implementation is hypothesised to be inversely related to the number of government agencies which have the right to permit use. Our findings are consistent with the anticommons problem: a marginal increase in the number of government agencies, each exercising the right to grant permission to the applicant, reduces the likelihood that a proposed project would ultimately receive permission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2011 Tohoku Tsunami is considered to be one of the most tragic events in Japan's disaster history, and represents an important milestone for the research community regarding the investigation of the characteristics of tsunami inundation. A thorough analysis of tsunami inundation was conducted using numerical modeling, and measurements from a video recorded from the rooftop of a building in Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture. In this study, we analyze the destruction of buildings using numerical simulations and tsunami fragility functions. Numerical results for the locations at which the tsunami eyewitness video was recorded are compared with measurements. In addition, we considered the effect of the breakwater in Onagawa bay to evaluate its contribution to reducing overland tsunami inundation depths. The results of our simulations show that the maximum inundation depth due to the first incoming wave was over 16 m, and over 500 buildings were washed away with this first wave. This result is consistent with the video data. Further, we found that the breakwater, which was not originally designed against tsunami waves, reduced the maximum tsunami inundation depth at least by 2.0 m in Onagawa town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, many structures were destroyed by the tsunami whose magnitudes were much larger than the design level. Tsunami defense structures in coastal areas will need reinforcement in the future, and for that reason it is important to evaluate tsunami behavior and resulting tsunami force. This study analyzes tsunami transformation around a Haramachi thermal power station which suffered serious damage by the tsunami due to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and which has complex topography and building layout. A three-dimensional (3D) tsunami simulation is carried out for a surrounding region of the Haramachi thermal power station using boundary conditions of the water surface elevation and flow velocity obtained from a two-dimensional (2D) tsunami simulation by a nonlinear shallow water model. Using these boundary conditions, the computer fluid dynamic model FLUENT is employed to simulate the tsunami behavior around the Haramachi thermal power station. The validity of the predictions is examined by comparison with actual traces of tsunami inundation depths (I.D.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused damage to many buildings and killed a lot of people in several countries that border on the Indian Ocean including Thailand. To understand the behaviour of reinforced-concrete buildings under tsunami loads, a generic one-storey building has been developed from the average values of the structural indices of residential houses in southern Thailand. The generic building has been analysed to capture responses under tsunami hydrodynamic forces. At each inundation depth, the lateral force has been increased until collapse. From results, the resistance of the building was controlled by the shear failure of columns at inundation depths lower than 2.57 m. The lateral resistances controlled by the shear failure were about 258 kN. As the inundation depth increased, locations of loads moved higher and the flexural failure occurred in the columns of the building. At an inundation depth of 3.2 m, the lateral resistance decreased about 50% from that controlled by the shear failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the positive effects of trauma exposure among adult survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and was guided by a bioecological framework. A total of 301 adults from India were assessed for posttraumatic growth and a set of demographic, individual, family, and social capital variables. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that religion, employment, family type, family flexibility, and family communication were significant predictors of posttraumatic growth. Contrary to expectations, individual factors and social capital did not contribute to posttraumatic growth. Findings imply that helping survivors make meaning out of their traumatic experience may facilitate posttraumatic growth. Intervention to promote increased employment opportunities and family resources is highly recommended for adult trauma survivors. Future trauma research should explore the role of perceived as well as actual familial and community resources, in addition to personal resources, in fostering posttraumatic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Anwar, Dong and Li proposed a decision-making framework for selecting the ideal alternative for retrofit options considering risk, resilience, and sustainability. Osawa and Honda introduced a novel risk assessment methodology considering the dynamic characteristics related to maintenance planning under low-probability high-consequence events. In recent years, risk, resilience and sustainability of civil infrastructure systems during their life-cycle have become emergent issues. [Extracted from the article]

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused damage to many buildings and killed a lot of people in several Indian Ocean countries, including Thailand. Several reinforced-concrete (RC) buildings in Southern Thailand that were gravity-load-designed buildings suffered damage due to the tsunami. To understand the behaviour of RC buildings under tsunami loads, the one-story building, which was the former office of the Thai Meteorological Department located in Phang-Nga province, was tested under tsunami load patterns. In this research, the RC building is modelled for three-dimensional non-linear static pushover analysis. In the building model, masonry infill walls are idealised as diagonal struts by using uniaxial non-linear springs, and plastic hinges are modelled by non-linear fibre elements. The results of the building model agree well with test results. The effect of masonry infill walls is investigated by considering various wall arrangement patterns. The building with masonry infill walls can resist the lateral load two times higher than the resistance of the building without masonry infill wall. The masonry infill walls with the appropriate arrangement can significantly improve the load-resisting capacity of the building under tsunami loads. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article critically analyzes institutional change as a consequence of humanitarian intervention in the tsunami-affected Nicobar Islands in India. It shows that the state and aid agencies distributed resources on the basis of formal rules and norms different from those observed by the Nicobarese. This has created social upheaval by diminishing the stature of the joint family system and imparting greater agency to political representatives. Written communication has overridden the sanctity of the spoken word. Younger, educated Nicobarese, especially men, have been privileged by the new institutional arrangements and are active participants in social change. Thus, humanitarian intervention has resulted in shifting relationships of power and equity. Moreover, the ecological consequences appear to be unsustainable. The article suggests the need for enhanced sensitivity to cultural specificities and inherent human capacity in designing humanitarian intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, with a magnitude of 9.0, broke most of the sea embankment and coastal vegetation belt and caused catastrophic damage to people and buildings in the Tohoku and Kanto regions of Japan. A field survey was conducted to elucidate the damage to river embankments and their hinterlands (residential area) by tsunami propagation in river channels and overtopping of embankments. Two, three, and four rivers in Iwate Pref., Miyagi Pref., and the Kanto region, respectively, were selected for the field investigation. In the hinterlands, the tsunami came from two directions, coast and river, and the situation, including the evacuation of people, became complex. Therefore, it is necessary to identify locations of river embankments that can be easily overtopped by a tsunami in different tsunami conditions. Tsunami inundation patterns were classified by the river capacity and whether a river or sea embankment was breached or not. This will provide useful information for making new hazard maps and planning new cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fukushima catastrophe tragically epitomizes the limitations of dealing with natural and technical hazards. Remarkably yet;authorities’ review of the catastrophe continue to be limited to mistakes and responsibilities of practical risk management. Although state regulations are questioned;technical protection measures verified;and disaster management processes optimized;no deeper discussion about the actual analytical limits of risk analysis has been engaged thus far. What can risk analyses address and what remains beyond their scope? How trustworthy can risk analyses be;and what kind of statements about the future can they actually formulate? This article examines these broader analytical and epistemological boundaries of risk analysis. Drawing on cases of international nuclear risk management;it tests and problematizes how the definition of risk;the methodology of their registration;and the interpretation of results are reaching their limitations in contemporary risk analysis. Following this critical discussion of risk analysis;the article draws conclusions concerning the usefulness and necessity of a differentiated and informed discourse on the potential and the limitations of the risk analysis method;an approach which today enjoys increasing popularity in a variety of policy sectors ranging from critical infrastructure protection to national and international security. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A huge tsunami caused by the giant earthquake occurred off Sumatra in Indonesia, on 26th December 2004, attacked the coastal regions of many countries facing the Indian Ocean. This paper describes evaluation methods of structural damage in order to mitigate the damage by huge tsunamis. First, the damage by this tsunami at Patong Beach in Phuket province of Thailand is explained. Next, diagrams to get critical inundation heights which break buildings are shown by using a rigid frame model as functions of inundation heights. Then, how to get the inundation height empirically is explained. Moreover, a numerical model to simulate the inundation height is also used, because the method described previously will give inundation heights of low accuracy as geographical feature becomes complicated. Furthermore, there were some structural collapses (a masonry wall and so on) by tsunami back-flow; the stability of a concrete wall against the back-flow is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the recovery efforts in Japan from the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Honshu, Japan on March 11, 2011. Discussed are the reactions of political leaders in the Japanese government to the disaster, including the response to damage at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The Sumatra-Andaman arc is an active subduction zone that has generated several destructive tsunamis. The December 26, 2004, Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of magnitude Mw∼9.3 generated the most destructive tsunami known to man. The sustained high water level in several regions on the east coast of India due to tsunamis in the Bay of Bengal can be attributed to the reflection of direct tsunami waves and trapping of wave energy. In this paper we have simulated two scenarios of tsunamigenic earthquakes, the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and a possible great earthquake in the Andaman region. Tsunami wave propagation and inundation at Visakhapatnam due to these two earthquakes have been modeled. We find that the tsunami run-up heights for the 2004 Sumatra earthquake were about 1.5 m. For the other possible scenario, we observed that the run-up is about 3-4.6 m. The inundated distances have been estimated and are 1-2 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tsunami N2 model has been used to simulate the Tsunami amplitudes and horizontal extent of inundation from the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004. The areas considered here pertain to the southwest coast of India, comprising the states of Kerala and Karnataka. In addition, the simulation of tsunami amplitudes and inundation has also been done for some selected islands of the Lakshadweep group of islands of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While in recent years much attention has been focused on tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, generated near Indonesia, equally destructive tsunamis also could occur in the western part of the North Indian Ocean. Specifically, the last major tsunami in the Arabian Sea occurred in November 1945 due to an earthquake that originated in the Makran region. The Tunami N2 model was used to simulate numerically the tsunami propagation, run-up, and inundation on the southwest coast of India and selected locations in the Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea. The simulations show that the run-up due to the 1945 Makran tsunami along the southwest coast of India and Lakshadweep islands was considerably less than that of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined predictors of complicated grief (CG) in Norwegians 2 years after bereavement in the 2004 South-East Asian tsunami. A cross-sectional postal survey retrospectively covering disaster experiences and assessing CG according to the Inventory of Complicated Grief yielded 130 respondents (35 directly disaster-exposed and 95 not directly exposed), with 47.7% screening CG positive. They identified positive associations between CG and being female, losing a child or spouse, and time to death confirmation, and negative associations with previous losses, being employed, and receiving social support. Direct exposure did not increase CG risk. Support service providers should be aware of this high prevalence of severe, persistent grief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of satellite remote sensing data has revealed changes in distribution of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and sea surface temperature (SST) in the Indian Ocean during the South Asian tsunami in December 2004. Chl-a data derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) images were examined for the period from 1998 to 2005. Around the epicentre of the Sumatra earthquake, the Chl-a concentration was found to increase prior to the main event on 26 December 2004 and then decrease during the tsunami event, while a high SST (∼30-31°C) was observed in and around the epicentral region. Chl-a concentrations in the coastal waters of the Southeast Asian countries were remarkably low during and after the tsunami. Similar but relatively small variations in Chl-a and SST were observed during the second earthquake on 28 March 2005. Analysis of Chl-a, SST, wind and upwelling water has provided information for understanding the changes in Chl-a concentration during the tsunami. A very large offshore phytoplankton bloom (∼300 km2) appeared to the southeast of Sri Lanka about 3 weeks after the tsunami; this might have been caused by a tropical storm that could be responsible for the enhancement of nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To elucidate the effectiveness and limitations of coastal vegetation for tsunami protection, the impact of vegetation structure on drag forces was analysed using the observed characteristics of reference tree species. The drag coefficient, including the vertical stand structures of trees, Cd-all, and the vegetation thickness per unit area, dNu (d, reference diameter of trees; Nu, number of trees per unit area), varies greatly with different species. Based on data analyses, dense Casuarina equisetifolia and Pandanus odoratissimus grown in beach sand were found to be especially effective in providing protection from tsunami damage due to their density and complex aerial root structure. The breaking moment of trees was investigated as a function of tree diameter. The breaking moment equation of P. odoratissimus explains well the damage caused to trees by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2006 Java tsunami. Numerical simulation indicates that inertia is the dominant force (99.1%) in comparison with the drag force when a wave front collides with a vegetation face, but while the water depth is very shallow and the total force is 6% of the maximum. Drag resistance is the dominant force in reducing both water depth and current velocity, but inertia resistance is active in reducing current velocity only in front of the vegetation. The breaking condition of trees can be discussed by the drag-force moment alone because when the total moment reaches the maximum, the contribution of the inertia moment is in the range of 0.1-0.3%. Considering the limitations of P. odoratissimus in reducing tsunami water depth and the other roles that coastal vegetation can play in mitigating tsunami-related damage, a forest with two layers in the vertical direction of P. odoratissimus and dense C. equisetifolia was found to be effective for increasing drag and trapping floating debris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on tsunami damaged houses, collected and compiled by the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka, was used to construct vulnerability curves with tsunami height as the demand parameter. A common curve could be used for all administrative divisions where a majority of houses had permanent walling materials, whether these divisions were on the southwest coast or the north and east coast. A Monte Carlo simulation was carried out for a typical building using varying tsunami inundation depths, and the resulting vulnerability curve was found to be similar, but lie just below, the survey-based curve, because all the buildings used for the simulated curve had permanent walling materials. This paper focuses only on the 'complete damage' state for vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a brief overview of issues relating to livelihood recovery assistance and achievements in Aceh since the December 2004 tsunami. 'Livelihood' programs were intended to help tsunami-affected households quickly resume productive activities and return to 'normal' life. They formed an important component of the tsunami recovery portfolios of the Indonesian government and many international donors, distributing millions of dollars worth of equipment, cash and other forms of support to tsunami victims. This article queries the effectiveness and impact of some of these programs in Acehnese villages, particularly during the early phases of recovery. It is unlikely that an international response on the scale witnessed in Aceh over the last four years will occur again with future disasters. Nonetheless, the 'livelihoods' approach is probably here to stay, and many important lessons can be drawn from the Aceh experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tsunami of 2004 and ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka are treated in the Special Issue of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift-Norwegian Journal of Geography as two inter-related disasters. Both have been shaped by long-established patterns of vulnerability. Understanding their outcomes and offering constructive critique about policy responses depend both on explanations and models of social processes as well as an understanding of the post-tsunami policy process in the shadow of civil war. A framework is offered for analysing the policy process to which the articles in the Issue contribute. Policy process is examined in terms of policy narratives, the actors involved and their institutions. Two policy narratives constructed by international development institutions - vulnerability, and livelihood destruction and recovery - are discussed, followed by more focused policy narratives concerning internally displaced persons (IDPs), housing policy, resettlement, and the 'right to return'. They are reproduced dynamically between a range of actors, including those in civil society (differentiated by ethnicity, gender, age, wealth, social and political capital, and geographical location), international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), civilian government, the military, and others. Policy narratives evolve and interact reflexively with the policy process and address the impact and longer term development effects of the tsunami and the civil conflict that overshadows it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article 'unpacks' the major policy narrative on housing in Sri Lanka, namely that there is One National Housing Policy (ONHP). Housing schemes have been part of poverty alleviation strategies designed to solve problems of internal displacement due to war, and more recently as part of the major recovery initiatives after the Indian Ocean tsunami event in 2004. The housing policy narrative is explored in a resettlement programme (1970s to date), in a case of war-induced internal displacement (1990s - early 2000), and in post-tsunami recovery (from 2005). The authors ask whether successful practices from the past have been incorporated into the post-tsunami recovery efforts. Although similar in structure and implementation processes - all highly centralised, technocratic, bureaucratic, and top-down - each scheme has its own policy narrative which is based on different local contexts and experiences. Housing plans are never neutral, but embedded in existing situations of tension and are highly politicised. New to the post-tsunami situation is that the housing policy has not sufficiently embedded the reconstruction practices in local realities and people's own preferences and contributions. Ignorance among international organisations about previous housing policies and power relations has led to a silent acceptance of the ONHP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares the social and political consequences of two disasters that struck Sri Lanka 70 years apart, the 1934-1935 malaria epidemic that killed over 100,000 people and the tsunami of 26 December 2004. The main argument is that while the state and civil society responses to the malaria epidemic of 1930s in many ways led to the establishment and development of the Sri Lankan welfare state and the related outcomes, including rapid advances in quality of life particularly in the rural sector, the more elaborate and well-funded tsunami response driven by the international humanitarian industry failed to facilitate speedy recovery, failed to galvanize the peace process and even added to the vulnerability of some of the affected people due to the rapid exodus of many newly arrived INGOs before completing their humanitarian mission. While the relative failure of the tsunami response may be partly attributed to the persistent conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelaam (LTTE), it also exposes some of the key weaknesses of humanitarian aid in the modern world. A more historically grounded and conflict-sensitive approach is necessary along with greater coordination among agencies involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-crisis situations represent a high level of very demanding and complex needs. The longer term goal of recovery should address vulnerabilities to future disasters that are likely to occur with increasing frequency and often in the same places. Post-crisis recovery should not be merely a return to the status quo ante but an attainment of a 'new normalcy'. 'Build back better', as advocated by President Bill Jefferson Clinton after the 2004 tsunami, underlines the need for quality in the recovery efforts. In the paper, recovery is interpreted as addressing the root causes of vulnerability and the pre-existing processes and conditions from which they stem. The paper explores how the narrative 'build back better' is perceived by different actors and how these perceptions are manifested in their operational priorities and programmes. An attempt is also made to examine the outcomes. This is discussed in relation to the post-tsunami recovery in Sri Lanka, specifically examining the interventions of selected humanitarian organizations visited during the research. The paper argues that despite the engaging mantra 'build back better', the tsunami response has not lived up to expectations, nor has it significantly altered the existing structural vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]