Journal of Natural Disaster Science

MECHANISM OF DISASTERS CAUSED BY TSUNAMI FLOODING

Kiyoshi HORIKAWA
Professor, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo

(Received 3 Nov., 1984 and in revised form 18 Feb., 1985)

Abstract

A research group was organized during the period of 1980 to 1983 under the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, with the aim of clarifying the mechanism of disasters caused by tsunami flooding.

The selected subjects of the cooperative research were 1) to develop a method with which to predict, or evaluate in detail, tsunami magnitude and the current speed and direction of a flooding tsunami, and 2) to determine the mechanism that causes damage to houses and public facilities due to the tsunami itself as well as damage caused by floating bodies that drift on tsunami waves. In addition to the above research activities, a field survey was made on the Suruga Bay Coast by the research group members in order to apply the investigation results obtained by them to the practical evaluation of future tsunami hazards in this area.

The aim of this paper is to introduce the main results of the cooperative research in a summarized form and to give available information on the papers written by the research members in connection with the present research project.

Key words

tsunami flooding, tsunami run-up, disaster-causing mechanism