Wood, NJ; Good, JW

Coastal Management [Coast. Manage.]. Vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 243-269. Jul-Sep 2004.

Earthquakes and tsunamis pose significant threats to Pacific Northwest coastal port and harbor communities. Developing holistic mitigation and preparedness strategies to reduce the potential for loss of life and property damage requires community-wide vulnerability assessments that transcend traditional site-specific analyses. The ability of a geographic information system (GIS) to integrate natural, socioeconomic, and hazards information makes it an ideal assessment tool to support community hazard planning efforts. This article summarizes how GIS was used to assess the vulnerability of an Oregon port and harbor community to earthquake and tsunami hazards, as part of a larger risk-reduction planning initiative. The primary purposes of the GIS were to highlight community vulnerability issues and to identify areas that both are susceptible to hazards and contain valued port and harbor community resources. Results of the GIS analyses can help decision makers with limited mitigation resources set priorities for increasing community resiliency to natural hazards.

Young, E

New Scientist. Vol. 185, no. 2484, pp. 6-8. 29 Jan. 2005

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction, which was held in the rebuilt Japanese city of Kobe in January 2005, agreed to a number of initiatives designed to give earlier warnings of tsunamis and floods and a more coordinated response to extreme natural hazards. Some of those involved in the Conference argue that it was a waste of effort since little emerged by way of firm disaster reduction plans or targets for saving lives. There was not even any agreement on how much money to spend on reducing the death toll caused by earthquakes, floods, drought and tsunamis. (Quotes from original text)

Fox, B

New Scientist. Vol. 185, no. 2482, pp. 26. 15 Jan. 2005

Plans to deliver broadband Internet signals to homes and businesses down mains electricity cables, rather than telephone lines, could cause interference that will drown out the faint signals from distant short-wave transmitters. Electricity companies in the USA and Europe are pressing ahead with the technology, with the aim of setting up in competition to existing telephone-based telecommunications services. The downside is that the packets of Internet data pulsing down unshielded mains cables makes the cables behave like aerials that send short-wave interference beaming out over a wide area. Unless interference of this kind is tightly controlled, it could spell the end for emergency short-wave communications of the type which has proven effective in disasters such as the tsunami which struck the coasts surrounding the Indian Ocean on 26th December 2004.

Pearce, F; Holmes, B

New Scientist. Vol. 185, no. 2482, pp. 14-15. 15 Jan. 2005

Among the clearest pictures of the overall destruction wreaked by the tsunami which struck the coasts surrounding the Indian Ocean on 26th December 2004 are those from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which has had a team of analysts examining satellite photographs of the region. Early results indicate that in many places the waves reached up to 2 kilometres inland and at least 50-60% of the bridges and roads are unusable. In addition, the physical destruction and the death of over 150,000 people, are only the most immediate impacts with many times that number of survivors now being vulnerable to disease, and many not be able to return to their land or their occupations, particularly fishing. The inhabitants of coral atolls face the least certain future because fresh water supplies there are so precarious and most rely on rainwater that collects in the pores of limestone rocks, forming shallow lens-shaped aquifers that sit on top of larger amounts of salt water. (Quotes from original text)

Economist; 368 (8337) 16 Aug 2003, pp.69

Since 1990, ten big tsunamis have claimed more than 4,000 lives in the western Pacific. Research is underway to find a means for detecting such waves far enough in advance for people to be evacuated. The only way to be sure whether a dangerous wave is headed towards a distant coastline is to track it across the open ocean. America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, hopes to do just that with its tsunameters. They transmit warnings from the ocean depths to buoys on the surface and these, in turn, relay the information to NOAA via satellite.

Sang, D

Catalyst. Vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 1-3. Apr. 2002

Presents a basic article describing the nature of Tsunamis (tidal waves): what triggers them (earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, meteorites and the nature of the waves produced (wavelength, amplitude, velocity).

Camilleri, D H

Structural Engineer. Vol. 77, no. 22, pp. 25-31. 16 Nov. 1999

Malta being situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, the natural disasters discussed are earthquakes and related perils, volcanism, and tsunamis. The anticipated damage for a particular type of structure subjected to a defined earthquake intensity is presented in a matrix giving the relative mean damage ratio (MDR). The MDR is then adjusted according to the stiffness and irregularity of the structure by constraints quoted in the paper. The damage probability matrix (DPM) for buildings then follows, as potential damage could be much higher than the MDR. The percentage deathrate for earthquake intensity is also presented, after taking into account the proportion of damage due to non-structural causes. This gives an interesting insight into the number of casualties occurring, depending on grade of damage to building. Recorded damage from volcanoes and tsunamis is then given, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean region. The information provided makes structural engineers aware of the various perils that exist; they may utilise their expertise in the area of disaster management by advising on setting parameters prior to the calculation of a risk assessment, for reducing the risks. In conclusion, to evaluate the various risk hazards, the Maltese Islands are split into 4 regions, according to geological relief formation and population density. (Original abstract)

Metal Bulletin Monthly , no. 05, pp. 13, 15-19. June 1999

Features aluminium workboats, small workboats, heavy duty workboats, survey catamarans, pilot craft, workboat kits for use following a tsunami, and a twin screw tug.

Gonzalez, F I

Scientific American. Vol. 280, no. 5, pp. 56-60. May 1999

To understand tsunamis, it is first helpful to distinguish them from wind-generated waves or tides. Breezes blowing across the ocean crinkle the surface into relatively short waves that create currents restricted to a shallow layer; a scuba diver, for example, might easily swim deep enough to find calm water. Strong gales are able to whip up waves 30 meters or higher in the open ocean, but even these do not move deep water. Tides, which sweep around the globe twice a day, do produce currents that reach the ocean bottom--just as tsunamis do. Unlike true tidal waves, however, tsunamis are not generated by the gravitational pull of the moon or sun. A tsunami is produced impulsively by an undersea earthquake or, much less frequently, by volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts or underwater landslides. With speeds that can exceed 700 kilometers per hour in the deep ocean, a tsunami wave could easily keep pace with a Boeing 747. Despite its high speed, a tsunami is not dangerous in deep water. A single wave is less than a few meters high, and its length can extend more than 750 kilometers in the open ocean. This creates a sea-surface slope so gentle that the wave usually passes unnoticed in deep water. In fact, the Japanese word tsu-nami translates literally as "harbor wave," perhaps because a tsunami can speed silently and undetected across the ocean, then unexpectedly arise as destructively high waves in shallow coastal waters.

Nedderman, J M

Nuclear Engineering International. Vol. 39, no. 477, pp. 26-7. Apr. 1994

On 12 July 1993, a major earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale, occurred off the coast of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido Electric's Tomari nuclear plant, located about 100 km from the epicentre, was completely unaffected and continued to generate at full power.

Okal, E A

Endeavour. Vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 38-43. 1994

Tsunamis are massive oceanic oscillations commonly following earthquakes and other major disturbances like volcanic eruptions and landslides. Recent occurrences offshore Nicaragua, Indonesia and Japan caused disastrous coastal flooding, devastation and loss of life. The way in which tsunamis develop and current techniques of prediction and hazard mitigation are reviewed.