Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Research in the United States
Abstract
This paper presents an update of the Corps of Engineers tsunami disaster mitigation research in the United States. Because the U.S. has not had any major tsunami disasters in many years, the Corps does not have a formal mission or policy for incorporating tsunami runup considerations in the design wave height for coastal structures. In the 1990's the Corps Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory did participate in substantial physical modeling of tsunami runup on beaches, vertical walls, and islands, as part of the National Science Foundation's Joint Tsunami Runup Study. These data have been extensively published and used by the international tsunami community to provide a better understanding of the physical phenomena and verify numerical models. The University of Southern California has recently been working with the Corps, and other federal and state agencies in California to develop tsunami inundation maps based on farfield and local tectonic and landslide sources. An example using the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in southern California is presented to illustrate the significance of these local co-seismic sources.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA454182
Entities
People
- Costas E. Synolakis
- Jose C. Borrero
- Michael J. Briggs
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center