IASPEI - Picture Gallery

IUGG XXIV General Assembly July 2-13, 2007 Perugia, Italy
(S) - IASPEI - International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's
Interior
JSS002 Poster presentation 1783
The Southeast Asia Tsunami Disaster Aftermath: Development of New
Approaches to Coastal Zone Hazard Observation and Warning Systems
Prof. Evgeny Kontar
Experimental Methods Lab P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology IAPSO
On January 2005 IOC/UNESCO and IUGG Tsunami and GeoRisks Commissions issued the statements on
the greatest submarine earthquake and tsunami of the early 21st century and recommended that the
countries around the Indian Ocean set up a Disaster Management Center and a warning system in order
to monitor the Indian Ocean in relation to all kinds of natural hazards, especially those related to coastal
regions. Assessment of potential of geo-hazards and their risks to populated coastal areas is becoming
an important domain of scientific research and mitigation management. Coastal zone, shelf and
continental slope are quickly becoming new major areas of industrial technological development owing
to growing population in coastal regions and vast natural resources such as fish, oil, and gas available in
these areas. Understanding risks of natural and human-made coastal zone hazards contributes to
strengthening the scientific and technological basis of a number of industries including oil/gas
production and transport. Traditional ways to evaluate risks of submarine earthquakes and tsunamis
(e.g., through analyzing historic data) are often not comprehensive enough and may result in lower
estimates of the actual risks of these hazards, while a combined approach developed recently at
P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences provides more accurate
evaluations, which may affect significantly human research and industrial activities in the coastal areas.
We report here some new ideas, approaches and preliminary results in the development of tsunami
warning systems based on a complex monitoring system using the deep-ocean cable installations and
bottom observatories located in the vicinity of the oil and gas drilling platforms which are cable
connected to data processing centers. Operation of such systems is to be combined with satellite survey
as well as with scientific cruise investigations. Also we report here some results of the EU project which
was desined to disseminate information to scientific and industrial communities on combined risks of
submarine contaminated groundwater discharge, saltwater intrusion, coastal zone earthquakes,
landslides, and tsunamis. This information can be introduced targetting potential risk groups, including
local coastal zone authorities and the general public, to enhance general risk awareness.
Keywords: tsunami, coastal zone, hazard observation systems